


The Quintuplets

by DoomFox



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Family Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27683716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomFox/pseuds/DoomFox
Summary: An accident in Tails' lab leaves the hapless fox split into five different versions of himself. Now the new band of brothers must work together to find a way to re-fuse, although at the end of the day that may be easier said than done...
Comments: 23
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A work I wrote with help from the r/milesprower discord! Please enjoy, and comment if you did!
> 
> Thanks to Pantalion and Crinam for helping me pick out the names for the foxies!

Sonic had been having a good day. Sonic had been having a _really_ good day, to be honest. Nothing but lazing around eating chilidogs and snoozing away beneath a tree, happy to take life slow for a change.

And then the explosion happened.

Sonic jerked awake, ears perked and eyes wide, staring in the direction of Tails' workshop. The little fox had been performing experiments with Chaos energy, and his experiments weren't always the safest...

"Tails!" Sonic yelped, climbing to his feet and bolting toward the workshop, "I'm coming buddy!"

The hedgehog sprinted through the door, coughing as smoke drifted through the open door.

"Tails?" Sonic retched, waving away the smoke, "Tails talk to me! Are you o... kay..."

Sonic's eyes fell on a furry orange figure, the form of a small twin-tailed mobian fox. Tails blinked as he came round, comically frazzled by the detonation.

"Woah..." the fox chuckled, grinning at his adoptive brother, "That was a blast, huh?"

"Miles!" Sonic snapped, cuffing his brother around the ear, "Do you seriously think this is the time to make jokes?! You could have been seriously hurt!" Sonic sighed, biting back further scolding. "Are you okay, little buddy?"

"Ugh... I'll live..."

Both brother's ears perked as _another_ voice came from nearby, the smoke now clearing just enough for them to see... another furry orange figure, scowling as he regarded Sonic and Tails with confusion.

"Uh," the _other_ Tails grunted, "What the hell?"

"Tails..." Sonic said slowly, his eyes drifting over the floor to find three more identical foxes waking up, regarding one another with puzzled expressions. "What did you _do?_ "

...

"Fascinating... absolutely fascinating..."

One Tails was busy circling the others with extreme curiosity, the other four foxes arranged around Tails' workshop like this was some bizarre family gathering. One stood, hands on hips, taking in the situation. Another leaned against a wall, arms folded, a permanent scowl etched into his face. A third flattened his ears and fiddled with his hands, features creased with worry. And the fifth sniffled as he sat on a workbench, Sonic tending to a graze on his knee.

"Fascinating..." the first Tails repeated, stroking his muzzle, "Fascinating..."

"Will you _PLEASE_..." the scowling Tails grumbled, "Stop saying 'fascinating'? You're beginning to piss me off."

"Hey!" hands on hips Tails strode over and glared at scowler. "This is a weird situation for all of us!"

"All of us?" Scowler replied with a smirk, "Funny choice of words considering we're the same person..."

"Guys, please?" Sonic snapped from his kneeling position, "This is crazy enough without you bickering with... yourselves..." the hedgehog returned his attention to bandaging his present patient's knee. "That feel better?"

Sniffler nodded, pouting as he sat on the workbench. This one seemed more like a regular kid, and had been in tears when he'd noticed his injury. "Is it gon' get infected?"

"Nah little dude, you're fine!" Sonic said, automatically back in big brother mode. He stood and regarded his strange company. "Okay, so... what the hell were you doing in here?"

"I... I mean, we..." the shy Tails stepped forward, looking as though he feared a beating for speaking up, "Were performing experiments on splitting Chaos energy..."

"To replicate the Chaos Emeralds' power!" Hips added.

"Power like that..." Scowler smirked, "Imagine what we could accomplish with _unlimited_ Chaos energy!"

"Uh huh..." Sonic muttered, "And let me guess. It went wrong."

"There was a BIG 'SPLOSION!" his patient said, stretching his arms wide with a huge beam. "Like, BOOM!!!"

"I theorise..." the first Tails said, hands clasping behind his back, "that our individual chaos energy was... split into five different forms in the incident. An unforeseen, though fascinating, outcome."

"Stop saying fascinating!"

"Leave him alone!"

"Guys, please... we need to-"

"I'm hungry! Sonic can we get somethin' to-"

"QUIET!!!"

Sonic raised his hands, and his voice, to get the attention of the bantering foxes. He sighed as they each reacted differently. One smirked, one raised an eyebrow, two cowered at his outburst, and one simply offered him his attention. "Please guys..." Sonic said, calming his voice, "We need to figure out what went wrong so we can _reverse_ this!"

"Sonic's right..." said one Tails, setting his hands on his hips in a very Sonic-esque fashion while scowler... scowled. "If we work together, we can find a way to refuse! But we need to work as a team!"

Scowler snorted. "Oh yeah, it's gonna be _so easy..._ "

"Uh... excuse me..." shy Tails perked up, "What if... what if we can't find a way to refuse?"

"That possibility had also crossed my mind," agreed another Tails.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it!" both Sonic and the 'lead' Tails said simultaneously, glancing at one another in surprise.

"First things first..." Sonic said, "We need to give you guys names. It's gonna get real confusing if you all keep answering to Tails."

"Ooh! I wanna be Tails! I wanna be Tails!" The bandaged fox hopped up on the workbench and waved his hands, having seemingly forgotten his war wound.

"I think it's best..." lead Tails said, "If nobody gets to be Tails. We _are_ all a part of... well, ourself anyway."

"Good thinking, little buddy!" Sonic said, "so get to it, guys!"

The lead Tails stroked his chin. "I kinda want something like 'Sonic', but I guess that's taken..." a smirk slowly made it's way onto his face. "How about... Blitz?"

A snort sounded from his left, scowling Tails chuckling at the name. "Seriously dude? _Blitz?_ Lame."

"Okay then smart guy, how about you?"

Scowler thought for a moment, arms still folded before a smirked. "Blade."

'Blitz' howled with laughter after a brief moment of incredulity. " _Blade?!_ Seriously? Wow, edgy!"

'Blade' scowled, but Sonic interjected before the two foxes could argue much more. "Okay, Blitz and Blade..." The hedgehog chuckled despite himself, finding this situation far too bewildering. "Cool names, little buddies!"

"I dunno..." kid-Tails said from his perch on the workbench, "Blade sounds kinda scary!"

Blade redirected his perma-scowl to the other fox. "Shut up, squirt!"

"AH!" the fox hopped up and down excitedly, "Squirt! I wanna be Squirt! Sonic, can I be Squirt?"

"Sure you can..." Sonic shook his head, then wheezed as the fox hopped onto his shoulders with a happy yip. "Jeez, take it easy kid! Okay, who's next?"

"I... I have an idea but..." shy Tails said lightly, fiddling with his hands, "But... it's..."

"Come on, little bro!" Sonic said, depositing Squirt to the workshop floor, "Whatever it is, you don't have to be shy!"

"Yeah, bro!" Blitz, emulating Sonic, grinned at his 'brother'. "Nobody's judging!"

"Well..." shy Tails continued, big blue eyes shining, "I kind of like... Feather..."

There was yet another snort of laughter from Blade's direction, the scowling fox smirking condescendingly. Blitz glared at his twin, before shooting a thumbs up and a grin at the newly named 'Feather'. "That's a real nice name, bro!"

'Feather' offered a shy grin, ears perking slightly at the validation.

"Okay, that sorts that..." Sonic said, as all eyes landed on the final Tails. "What about you, dude?" the hedgehog said, "Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." the last fox said, "I don't have any particular ideas in mind. An eventuality such as this was not something I had anticipated."

"Wow, jeez!" Blitz said with a chuckle, "Easy on the vocab there, doc!"

'Doc' frowned, considering. "Doc. As in short for 'Doctor'. That seems appropriate."

"Okay then!" Sonic clapped his hands and regarded the band of his little brothers. "So... Blitz, Blade, Squirt, Feather and Doc. Nice to meet you all!" the hedgehog wore an exasperated grin as he looked each of them over, noting very slight differences in their individual builds. "So... what the heck do we do now?"

...

Amy Rose frowned as she hugged her coat around herself, stood outside the front door to Sonic and Tails' house in Green Hills. "I don't get it..." she muttered, "What did Sonic mean by 'a weird surprise?' "

"I dunno," Knuckles grunted, leaning close to the wall in an attempt to shield himself from the rain, "But they'd better open up fast! I didn't come here to get soaked!"

"Well that's on you for never wearing a jacket, knucklebrain!"

Before Knuckles could grumble in response, the door suddenly clicked with the sounds of locks being released, and creaked open to reveal a timidly cowering little fox. "Oh..." Tails said lightly, ears flattening at the sight of his friends, "H... hello, Amy... and Knuckles..."

"Hey Tails!" Amy smiled, "Nice to see y-hey!"

"Shove over!" Knuckles grunted, moving past Amy and causing a frightened looking Tails to recoil in shock. "Tails, get me a towel?"

"O... okay..."

Knuckles towelled himself off while Tails led him and Amy through the house, stopping and bringing them to a halt before a closed door. Sounds emanated from inside, muffled high-pitched voices chattering away. "I... have to warn you guys..." Tails fumbled with his hands, and Amy suddenly noticed how small and... _effeminate_ he looked. "This... might be a shock..."

"Tails?" Amy said lightly, "Is everything okay? You don't seem... yourself..."

Tails' ears drooped and he looked up with big blue eyes. "You'll see..." the fox said, turning to open the door. "Please... come in..."

Amy and Knuckles exchanged a brief glance before following their little friend... and both their jaws flapped open simultaneously.

Two Tails' occupied the couch, presently engaged in a life-or-death battle in some video game or another, a third Tails tapped away at a laptop, and a fourth smaller Tails came barrelling into the room with a toy aeroplane, making propeller noises with his mouth. The first Tails bowed his head and flattened his ears at the sudden racket, and four sets of blue eyes met Knuckles and Amy.

"Oh, hi Knux! Hi Ames!"

"Oh great, the princess and the genius..."

"Greetings, Amy and Knuckles."

"AMY! KNUCKLES!!!"

Knuckles recoiled as the Tails with the plane ran over to him, pouncing forward to wrap his arms around the huge echidna's torso. 

"Uh... Tails?" Amy said, unable to take her eyes away from the chaos before her, "What did you do?"

"It's... a long story..." the first Tails said, fiddling with his hands bashfully.

"We got sep'rated!" the other Tails said, grinning up at Knuckles and Amy. "Knux! Knux! Look at my plane, Knux!"

"SQUIRT? WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?"

Amy and Knuckles watched a very haggard looking Sonic run into the room, almost tripping over more toys seemingly deposited by the fox child. "Ah, jeez..." the hedgehog's shoulders slumped as he registered their guests. "Sorry guys, I would have explained but..." He glared at 'Squirt', who now attempted to hide behind Knuckles' legs, " _somebody's_ been giving me the run-around!"

"You can't catch me!" Squirt cried, hopping into the air and blowing a raspberry.

"Wanna bet?" Sonic couldn't help but grin at the little fox. Squirt was very much the hyperactive child part of Tails, and was reminding the hedgehog of Tails himself when he had been four years old. 

"Sonic..." Knuckles grunted, eyes like pinpricks as he watched Squirt flutter onto the couch and snuggle into one of the other Tails' side. "Maybe you should explain exactly what's going on before I lose my last marble?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Sonic sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, y'see... Tails was performing some weird experiments with splitting Chaos energy, there was an accident and... he split himself into these five guys."

"Oh," said Knuckles after a brief pause, "Simple as that, huh?"

"So... which one is the original Tails?" Amy said.

"That's the thing," Sonic replied, "They _all_ are. We came up with names for each one so they could be told apart, but they're all a piece of Tails." He turned around and called to the group. "Guys! Come over here and introduce yourselves!"

The Tails' did as they were told, mostly enthusiastic though one of them groaned and trudged into formation like a moody teen. One by one they introduced themselves, lined in a row like toy soldiers.

"They all look a little different, too..." Amy mused, looking over the small form of Squirt. The smallest fox grinned up at her, fiddling with his toy plane.

"We have our own personalities as well!" The fox introduced as Blitz piped up, a lopsided grin giving him the appearance of a fox-ified Sonic. "I'm handsome and extremely charming for example, and Blade is super edgy!"

"I am _not_ edgy, faker!" 'Blade' snarled.

"He keeps calling me that..." Blitz chuckled, "I think he's a Shadow fanboy!"

"Bite me!"

"Guys, please..." 'Feather' said lightly, "Stop fighting?"

"I must really get back to work on my calculations..." 'Doc' said, hands clasped behind back as usual.

"I'm hungry!" 'Squirt' chimed, bouncing on his toes, "Sonic, can we order food now? I'm hungry!"

Sonic grinned. "Little bundles of joy, huh?"

"Hold up..." Knuckles raised his hands, signalling for quiet. "If you guys were all split from the original Tails..." he said carefully, brow creasing in a frown, "Then what happened to Tails?"

The five foxes glanced at one another as though communicating telepathically... before they looked as one to the three other mobians before them.

"Oh..."

"Don't worry..."

"I'm still..."

"In here..."

"Somewhere!"

Amy and Knuckles dropped their jaws as the foxes wore identical expressions, and continued each other's sentences flawlessly. All five of them moved in sync, every little movement executed in unison.

"Holy..." Knuckles muttered, while Sonic shook his head and grinned.

"Yep, they do that sometimes..." the blue hedgehog said, "Kinda creepy, huh?"

"Tails?" Amy said, leaning close to the foxes, "Are you really okay?"

Five pairs of blue eyes locked on hers at once. 

"I..."

"Think..."

"So..."

"It's..."

"A little..."

"Confusing..."

"Like trying to..."

"Play..."

"Five video games..."

"At once..."

"Or something!"

"Hard..."

"To..."

"Explain!"

Sonic chuckled at Amy and Knuckles' bewildered expressions, before clapping his hands. "Okay guys, stop freaking out our house guests!"

Like flipping a switch the foxes returned to their individual states, synced intelligence receding back into five different forms.

"That's... really something..." Knuckles murmured, while Squirt toddled over to the large echidna.

"Knuckles! Look at my plane!"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah... real nice, kid..."

"Anyway..." Sonic said, "We're ordering takeout. No way I'm cooking for all five of you!"

"I can help cook, Sonic!" Blitz said, setting his hands on his hips in that Sonic-esque fashion, "Maybe I can even teach you a few things!"

"Oh yeah? You pick up Tails' cooking skills too?"

"I... I could also help cook?" Feather said timidly, rubbing his hands together meekly.

"And I could handle...." Blade said with a smirk, "the _knives..._ "

"Heck no, dude!" Blitz retorted, "No way you're being around sharp objects!"

"Guys, can you stop bickering for five seconds and go grab the takeout menus?" Sonic said, Blade rolling his eyes while Blitz dragged him away by the arm. Sonic shook his head and grinned at Amy and Knuckles. "So, guys!" he said, as though he hadn't a care in the world, "Who's hungry?"

...

Dinner was a messy affair, although after Knuckles and Amy had been seen out the clean up was sorted in record time. Sonic was happy to have five extra pairs of hands to help with the dishes, though Blade and Squirt had offered some resistance at the thought of doing chores. Now it was late, and it was getting time to start thinking about sleeping arrangements.

"Okay guys..." Sonic said, hands on hips as he regarded the five foxes, "We need to figure out where you five are going to sleep!"

"I'm having the bed," muttered Blade, the moody fox sulking as he sunk into the sofa.

"No, Blade..." Sonic said, "Squirt gets the bed because he's the youngest."

"We're exactly the same age, _Chronic!_ "

"No arguing! Squirt gets the bed, the rest of you..." Sonic rubbed his chin, "We'll roll out some blankets and you can arrange yourselves on the furniture. Two or three of you'll fit on the sofa."

"I will be fine..." Doc waved a hand, his laptop clutched beneath an arm. "I wish to continue my calculations. See if I can find a way to reverse our predicament."

"No way, little buddy." Sonic said, "You're not pulling an all-nighter! _All_ of you get some sleep, and we'll figure this out in the morning!"

Blade continued to sulk though did as he was told, helping the others with the blankets and the sleeping arrangements. In the end, they moved two armchairs together to create another 'bed', which would be occupied by a moody Blade. Blitz, Doc and Feather would share the sofa. Now the others were settled, Sonic led a very sleepy Squirt up the stairs to Tails' bedroom, and gently tucked him underneath the covers.

"There you go!" Sonic grinned as Squirt snuggled in, the top of his head and his big blue eyes all that was exposed now of the fox. "Get some sleep, kid! You'll need it for the morning!"

Squirt released a squeaky yawn and his eyes began to droop. "Sonic?" The little fox said quietly, "Do you think we'll ever get re... refussed again?"

Sonic chuckled. "You're the smartest guy... or guys, I guess, that I know, little buddy! If anybody can figure it out, it's you!"

"What if we can't and we're sep'rated for ever?"

Sonic offered his brother a comforting smile. "Don't worry about that, little dude..." he said, "We'll figure something out."

"Sonic?"

"Mhm?"

Squirt opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking every bit the four year old cub he had taken in years ago, "Iloveyou..."

Sonic grinned. "Love ya too, lil' bro."

Squirt hugged into Sonic's chest and Sonic squeezed the little fox back.

"Okay, squirt..." the hedgehog said, "Bed!"

Squirt nodded and curled up beneath the covers, obediently closing his eyes and curling into a tight ball.

Sonic hung at the doorway for a moment, before hitting the light switch and leaving the room. He wandered back to the living room to find Blitz, Doc and Feather snuggled together beneath a blanket, while Blade occupied the makeshift 'bed'.

Sonic set his hands on his hips and released an exasperated sigh. "Jeez, Tails..." he murmured, four pairs of orange ears flickering in time at his whispering voice, "What am I gonna do with you?"

...


	2. Chapter 2

Two days. Two whole days of research had gone by, with no progress made on re-fusing the foxes. And the longer they were separate, the more Sonic picked up on their individual quirks. It was bizarre, Sonic thought, that these five 'quintuplets' had once been the individual Miles Prower.

Sonic thanked whatever fate had preserve Tails' consciousness between his five bodies. If Tails had been no more... it was an existential crisis not worth thinking about.

"Sonic!"

Sonic wheezed as a ball of orange fluff pounced and caught him in a hug, the shorter form of the offshoot known as Squirt clinging desperately to his older brother.

"Woah, hold up little guy!" Sonic looked down into big, frightened blue eyes, noting that Squirt seemed in distress. "What's the matter?"

"It's Blade!" Squirt cried, hugging Sonic closer, "I hurt my arm and now he says he's gonna cut it off!!!"

"Oh he did, did he?" Sonic muttered. Blade. The 'edgy' fox who seemed to be composed of Tails' darker side. Sonic hummed and reached down, lifting the little fox into his arms. "Come on buddy," He said, "Let's go have a chat with Blade..."

"But he said..."

"He doesn't mean it, let's just go have a word with him! Can I see your arm?"

Sonic looked over Squirt's latest injury, a small graze that had barely even broken the skin, as he carried Squirt into the living room where Blade sulked in an armchair, absently playing some violent video game or another.

"Blade?" Squirt buried his face in Sonic's chest fur as the hedgehog regarded the moody fox, "Are you tormenting Squirt again?"

"It was just a joke, _Chronic..._ " Blade grunted, not looking at the hedgehog, "It's not my fault the little guy's too dumb to understand that."

"Dun't call me dumb!" Squirt squeaked, glaring at his 'brother'.

"You got a serious attitude problem, Blade..." Sonic replied, "Now apologise to Squirt!"

Blade shrugged. "Sorry."

"And mean it!"

Blade looked to the smaller fox with a mock-concerned expression. "Oh, I'm so sorry, little Squirt! How can I ever make it up to you?"

Squirt stuck his tongue out in response, and Sonic sighed. "You know, the sooner we get you guys merged again, the better."

Blade didn't respond, though Sonic could have sworn his mood soured at his statement.

"Guys? Sonic?" The three brothers looked to find another fox, this one Blitz by the body language, standing in the doorway. "We... need a word..."

Sonic looked to Blade, who dropped his controller and left his chair with a huff, slouching after Sonic and Squirt as they followed Blitz through to the kitchen.

Sonic frowned as he entered to find Feather and Doc already there, making for all five component parts of Tails. He looked between them all, concern rising in his chest. "Uh, what's the matter guys?"

"It's... probably better if we sync..." Feather said lightly, fiddling with his hands.

Blade snorted and folded his arms. "I... don't wanna..."

"Come on, Blade!" Blitz said, "It'll be easier if we're Tails again!

For once Blade didn't retort with a sarcastic comment, instead appearing apprehensive.

"Dude..." Sonic said, "You okay?"

Blade hesitated, then swallowed and nodded. "Fine..." he said moodily, familiar scowl descending, "Let's just get this over with..."

All five foxes arranged themselves around the kitchen, relaxing as they prepared to merge once again... then five faces wore identical expressions, movements synced, and five pairs of blue eyes met Sonic's green.

"Sorry Sonic..."

"Blade doesn't like..."

"To sync like this..."

"It's okay, bud!" Sonic replied, doing his best to remind himself that Tails was speaking as an individual right now - albeit an individual spread across five different bodies. "What's the matter? You don't look too happy..."

"Yeah, about..."

"That..."

All five foxes looked at him with the same shared intelligence, shuffling awkwardly in their respective places.

"Sonic..."

"I've done plenty of..."

"Research, and..."

"Well..."

Tails paused, seemingly hesitant to pursue the subject. All five of his shoulders drooped, all ten of his eyes flickering awkwardly over the floor.

"Come on, buddy!" Sonic said gently, reaching out and gently setting a hand on Blade's shoulder, "Talk to me! What's the problem?"

Tails locked eyes with Sonic again, the closer form of Blade turning his head and looking directly into Sonic's.

"All five of my bodies..."

"Are developing unique..."

"Chaos signatures."

Sonic frowned. "Meaning...?"

"Meaning..." Tails continued, talking through Blitz, "The longer I spend split like this..."

"The more individual each body becomes..."

"Meaning I won't be..."

"Able to re-fuse..."

Sonic swallowed hard. "Oh," he said. "What... what happens to _you_ in that case?"

"I can still sync..."

"With no issue..."

"So I'll probably..."

"Retain that ability..."

"But I won't..."

"Ever truly be..."

"My own individual..."

"Again."

Sonic nodded, setting his hands on hips. "So what do we do?"

"I'm going to..."

"Try the experiment..."

"Again..."

"With the new calculations..."

"It's the best bet..."

"To re-merge my component parts."

"Okay buddy..." Sonic replied, "Sounds like a plan!"

"Thanks Sonic..."

"I'm going to..."

"Unsync now..."

"Okay?"

"Sure buddy," Sonic said, "Do what you need."

Tails nodded with all five heads... and then the component foxes released sighs of relief as they un-merged from each other.

"Jeez..." Blitz rubbed his temples, "Talk about disorienting..."

"Sonic, I feel sick..." Squirt moved over to Sonic and snuggled into his fur, a queasy expression over his face.

"Yeah, I can see that little dude..." Sonic rubbed Squirt's head as the small fox cuddled into him. "I guess that takes a lot out of you guys, huh?"

"It's... pretty strange..." Feather said lightly.

"Yeah..." Blitz chuckled, "Do you know how it feels to have _five_ headaches?"

"It's a fascinating ability, however." added Doc.

Blade said nothing, simply scowling and storming out of the kitchen.

Sonic frowned. "What's up with mister Happy?"

Blitz shrugged. "Dunno. He just doesn't like syncing. He won't say why."

Sonic frowned. "Don't you guys like, share a brain?" Sonic said, attempting to grasp the concept of sharing a consciousness.

"We are capable of... hiding certain information from one another, even when we're Tails..." Doc replied, "A possible result of our growing individuality, perhaps."

"And... and I don't like to pry..." Feather added.

"It's complicated!" Blitz shrugged, "I guess we'll never really understand how it works."

"Huh..." Sonic shrugged. "So what's next?"

The four foxes glanced to one another. "We need to prepare the lab," replied Doc, "Shouldn't take more than a few hours..."

"Okay. If you guys need anything, I'm here to help!" Sonic said with a thumbs-up.

"Thanks, Sonic!" said Blitz, offering a thumbs-up of his own before turning back to his 'brothers'. "Okay guys! Let's get to work!"

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, Doc..." Blitz leaned over his twin as the other fox fiddled with the interior of a hastily constructed machine, the device boxy and tripedal, with what appeared to be a large satellite dish pointing to the centre of the workshop, "How far off are we?"

"If you keep getting in my light..." Doc muttered, offering a short and exasperated glance to his counterpart, "It'll take even longer, won't it?""

"Hey, just askin'!" Blitz replied defensively, stepping back and raising his hands defensively, "You're the one who got most of the brains, after all!"

"In your case..." murmured Blade, the moody fox folding his arms and glowering darkly, "that is exceptionally true..."

Blitz gave his dark twin a lopsided grin in response and shrugged. "Least I got all the charm! More than can be said for you, edgy-boy!"

Blade growled beneath his breath and returned to his brooding, his bangs hanging limply as he glared through the floor.

Squirt inspected the machine, sniffing curiously at the dish that was wide as he was tall. "Is this gonna put us back together?"

"Yes..." replied Feather who had taken to caring for the smaller fox while the others had been busy helping Doc in constructing the device, "It will... gather our Chaos energies, and... rebind them into a single person..."

"Oh..." Squirt's ears drooped a little. Fumbling with his toy plane, he looked to his brother with big blue eyes. "Will it hurt?"

Feather wore a comforting smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "No, I don't think so..." he replied softly, gently stroking his brother's back for support.

Blade snorted, garnering the attention of the other three unoccupied foxes, though he said nothing.

"Please..." Doc wheezed from below, glaring from behind his safety goggles. "Can I have some quiet so I can _concentrate?_ I _assume_ you all wish to be put back together properly..."

The others fell silent, Blitz observing Doc's work while Feather occupied Squirt, and Blade moodily attempted to ignore his present company.

Soon enough Doc shut the machine's access panel and stood, wiping his brow while retrieving a data pad from the bench. "That should do it..." the fox raised his goggles and his eyes flitted over the screen. "Ready to go."

Blitz frowned. "Shouldn't we wait until Sonic gets back?"

"Yes..." Feather added, "He might want to... well, 'see us off' I guess you could say."

Doc tapped his foot impatiently. "If we spend much longer split," he explained slowly, "The less stable re-fusion will be. We're on a clock here, if you didn't notice."

Blitz wore an unhappy expression, though ultimately he shrugged. "Guess we'll have to explain it ourselves..." A slight smirk wormd its way onto his muzzle. "When we're a 'he' instead of a 'we' again!" Doc sniffed. "Quite." Blitz turned to the others and grinned. "Well, guys! It's been interesting, but I guess it's time to get back where we belong!"

Blade glared, though the petulant scowl didn't quite ring true. "What... now?"

"Yes, now..." Doc replied irritably, "If we wait much longer our individual Chaos signatures will be too incompatible to refuse."

"So there you have it!" Blitz said, "Now or never, edgy-boy! Come on guys, into position!"

Blitz confidently led his comrades into formation before the machine, directly in front of the satellite dish, while Doc tapped away at his data pad, ready to activate the device via remote.

"Is it gonna hurt?" Squirt whispered again, clutching onto his brothers for support.

Blitz and Feather exchanged glances, before Blitz grinned. "No way, little dude! There'll just be a flash, and when we're all back together then... then..." the confident fox faltered. He hadn't thought this far ahead, to tell the truth. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know _what_ it would be like when they were once again a single individual. He looked to Doc for an explanation, but the other fox ignored him as he studied his data pad. Blitz's grin returned, a little less cocksure this time, as he gave Squirt a clap on the shoulder. "Then we'll take a look at the Tornado!" He gestured to the toy plane in the smaller fox's hands, "And eat a buttload o' mint candies, yeah? I think after this we've deserved a treat!"

This didn't quite seem to placate the smaller twin, who looked back to the machine with big blue eyes and snuggled into Feather's side.

"Blade..." Doc said quietly, not looking up from his data pad, "Get into position, please..."

All eyes looked toward the last fox... who had neglected to join his comrades before the machine. Instead, the previously moody fox gaped at the scene before him, fists clenched and eyes like pinpricks, a look of sheer terror pasted over his features.

"Blade..." It was Blitz's turn to speak, raising an eyebrow at his moody companion, "It's time..."

"No..." Blade muttered, shaking his head before glaring at his twin. "No! I'm not going back!! You can't make me!!!"

The others glanced between one another in bewilderment. "Dude?" Blitz said, confusion filling him at Blade's reaction, "What the heck's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _me?_ " Blade responded with an incredulous chuckle, "What's wrong with _me???_ I dunno, _Blitz,_ maybe I actually _like_ being my own person!"

So that what this was all about. Blade's reluctance to sync with the others and become Tails, his refusal to recombine...

"Blade..." Blitz wore a bemused expression as he regarded his twin. "We _have_ to go back! This is how it's supposed to be!"

"Feather?" Squirt whimpered, clutching tighter to his brother. "Blade's scaring me..."

" _I'm_ scaring you?" Blade cackled as he locked eyes with the smaller fox, Squirt's ears flattening in response, "Look, Blitz! Do you even _know_ what's going to happen to us when we... re-merge? Do you?!" Blade looked truly terrified now, refusing to come anywhere near the machine as it sat there like a mounted weapon, ready to take his life should he stand before it. "Are we... even going to _exist_ when we re-fuse? Is there really gonna be anything of us left?" Blade said, his voice quieter now as he stared accusingly at Blitz, "Or is that it? are we just going to _die?_

Blitz swallowed, but was cut off by a frightened yelp before he could respond.

"I dun't wanna die!" Squirt cried, looking between his taller bothers with sudden terror in his eyes, "I dun't wanna die!!"

"Squirt..." began Feather, stroking at the smaller fox.

"You said we'd be okay!!!" Squirt shrieked, tears now filling his eyes as he panicked, "You said we'd be okay, Blitz! But I dun't wanna die!!!"

Blitz didn't reply. Instead, he looked over to Doc and locked eyes with the silent twin. "Doc..." he said quietly, "What _is_ gonna happen to... _us_ after this?"

Doc placed his hands behind his back and wore a neutral expression. "It is a near certainty..." he said evenly, "that we as individuals will cease to be upon reconfiguration. At best, the reformed Tails may display our individual personalities at times, though I suspect our memories and experiences will be combined into one. Or perhaps forgotten altogether."

Blitz glared at him. "You didn't think to mention this?"

Doc frowned, as though asked to describe the colour blue. "None of you even considered this? What did you _think_ would happen?"

Feather hugged Squirt as the smaller fox cried into his chest fur, looking to Blitz for guidance. Blitz had none. For the first time in his brief existence as an individual, he didn't know what to say.

"So there you go..." Blade snorted, "Straight from the professor's mouth..." the fox glowered between each of his brothers, like an innocent defendant regarding his prosecutors. "Well If you all wanna just let yourselves become nothing, then go ahead. But I choose to _live._ "

Blitz swallowed. "Tails didn't ask to be split like this..." he said quietly.

"Yeah, well..." Blade retorted, "I didn't ask to be made, and neither did any of you! But we're here now, and I'm keeping it that way!" with a final dark look, Blade huffed and turned away. "I'm leaving..." he growled, turning tails on his brothers, "Do what you want..."

The others watched their companion storm away, the sullen silence only broken by the clearing of Doc's throat. "If we wish to continue the re-fusion..." he said, not a hint of emotion in his voice, "We all need to be in front of this device, in agreement, within the next two hours."

Blitz sighed. "Jeez..." the fox ran a hand along his forehead, slicking back his bangs. "Why can't things ever be simple?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Blade? Blade?"

Blitz wandered through the household, searching for his elusive twin. Blade had stormed off from the workshop and Blitz had offered to go find him and talk, figure out their predicament. But the moody fox could be found nowhere in the house, and Blitz had checked all of his usual spots.

It didn't take him long to find the note left on the kitchen counter.

"Ah, crap..." the fox swept back his bangs as he read, concern for his twin filling his chest.

_I'm off. Not going back. Screw you guys. Don't come looking for me._

"Guys?" called Blitz, moving with a purpose back to the workshop, "We got a problem..."

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blade wasn't a little kid. He _wasn't._ As Tails, he and the others had fought against the forces of Robotnik since they were just four years old, using their peculiar powers to help Sonic. So Blade wasn't just a dumb little kid. He was smart, and he was strong, and he was tough.

So why was he crying?

The fox had stormed from the workshop and made up his mind - he was running away. He'd scribbled down a note before leaving, bolting out the door and into the sky as fast as his tails could take him.

But a short way into his flight, he'd lost heart. Blade was moody, and sulking, but he didn't truly _want_ to leave his twins behind... they were, after all, linked in a very special way.

So he'd made a diversion and found himself sat on the shore, overlooking the very beach he and Sonic had first met. He spent a while alone, just staring out into the lake, sniffling as the sun began to set.

He rubbed at his eyes on the back of an arm. "Stupid..." he muttered to himself, "Stupid..."

It wasn't stupid, he knew. He just didn't want to die. He _existed_ now, in a way he hadn't as part of Tails, and he was terrified of losing this newfound autonomy. Terrified at becoming _nothing._

Blade's ears twitched as a thrumming sound came from the air, the fox turning to find a bright red biplane flying above. He snorted. Of course, it wouldn't take them long to find him. The lake wasn't too far from the Green Hills workshop, and they _were_ all a part of him... 

He sighed and wrapped his tails around himself. No point running now. They'd find him sooner or later.

It was a few minutes before the sound of footsteps caught his attention, and Blade looked to find all four of his brothers assembled behind him. He turned away and pouted. "I guess this is it..." he muttered darkly, glaring at the water. "You've come to drag me back, huh?"

"Actually..." Blitz was the first to speak, tucking his thumbs into his utility belt. "We just came to talk..."

"What's left to talk about?" Blade turned his head slightly, peering over his shoulder. "We go back, we fuse... we die. Seems pretty simple to me."

"Blade!"

Blade wheezed as a small dark orange lump skidded behind him and tackled into a hug, Squirt squeezing him tight from behind. He spun around to find Squirt shuffling around to his side. "I dun't wanna die neither!" Squirt whimpered, obvious tears in his eyes. "I dun't wanna die so... I said I dun't wanna be put back t'gether neither!!"

"Huh," Blade huffed, glaring up at Blitz and the others. "Looks like _somebody_ has a bit of sense, after all..."

"We've... spoken, Blade..." said Feather, who timidly approached with ears flattened, "And... um..."

"We're not re-fusing," said Blitz. "It's decided."

Blade's ears perked and his face morphed from moody, to merely bewildered. "Why?" he said, taken aback at the revelation, "I thought you were all about that 'we shouldn't be here' bullcrap?"

"Well... I do like existing, not gonna lie..." Blitz replied with a smirk, "But... we're a whole, right? A team? And if we can't all agree to re-fuse..."

"Then we can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to..." finished Feather, sitting himself gently beside Blade. "Besides..." the effeminate fox continued, "I... am also concerned about what will happen to _us_ if we reform..."

Blade looked to his siblings, recognising the looks in each of their eyes. They, like him... were afraid of becoming _nothing_. Nothing but a few memories, or symptoms of a personality disorder at best.

He locked eyes with Blitz, who shrugged. "It's like you said..." his twin wore a lopsided grin that didn't reach his eyes, "We didn't _ask_ to be created... but here we are..."

Blade, despite himself, rested an arm around Squirt's shoulders, the little fox pulling himself in tighter. He glanced at Feather, who offered him a soft smile. "And what about you?" he said, turning to scowl at the final quintuplet, who stood with his hands clasped behind his back. "What do you think?"

Doc raised an eyebrow. "I hardly think my opinion matters now, seeing as you all appear to have made your minds up. Besides..." the goggled fox raised his data pad and tapped it with his other hand. "Time is running out. If we _were_ to rebind ourself, we would only have an hour at most to come to that decision."

Blitz's grin wavered, but he clapped a hand on Blade's shoulder just like Sonic would have done to them all when they were Tails. "So..." the confident fox said, "Y'see? I guess we really are gonna stick around after all..."

Beside them, Feather nervously wrapped his hands around himself and flattened his ears, eyes widening in trepidation. "But what about Tails?" he whispered, only now all five were reunited choosing to voice the unspoken concern, "What do we do about Tails?"

The quintuplets glanced between one another as they each pondered the same thing; what were they to do about their sixth 'self'?

"I think it's best..." Blitz said apprehensively, "We come to some kind of agreement..."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonic yawned heavily as he entered his and Tails... well, _the_ Tails', shared home. His had been a long day, one of endless running and thinking and visiting Angel Island to visit Knux, and talk about the recent developments with his old friend. He hoped that his new band of brothers had stayed out of mischief, and wondered if they had made any progress on re-fusing themselves.

The hedgehog wandered through the combined workshop/house and entered the living room... to find five foxes, all quietly staring into space. 

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Uh..." he said uncertainly, "Am I interrupting anything?"

As one, the foxes gave Sonic their attention, five pairs of eyes locking on his.

He swallowed, unable to help but feel creeped out by the behaviour, though he understood what was happening. "Synced again, huh?" he said, offering a small grin, "Hi Tails."

"Sonic..."

"We need..." 

"To talk."

Sonic raised his hands in a shrug. "Go ahead, I'm all ears!" He smirked. "Well, I guess _you're_ all ears, right?"

In unison, the component foxes folded their arms with an unimpressed look.

Sonic's grin faltered. "Sorry, buddy..."

"Sonic..."

"There's been a major development..."

"In the re-fusion process."

Sonic nodded. "Okay... good news or bad?"

"That's the thing..." Tails replied after a moment's hesitation, speaking through Blitz. "It's..."

"A bit of both," he continued through Feather.

Sonic frowned. "How so?"

"Sonic..."

"The individual Chaos energies..."

"Of my bodies have..."

"Become too unique..."

"To safely re-fuse. Re-fusion..."

"Is now impossible with..."

"The equipment I have to hand."

Sonic folded his arms and wore his most serious expression. "Damn, dude..." he said softly, "There has to be something you can do!"

"Maybe... but..."

"More than that, I think..."

"It's for the best."

"What d'you mean?" Sonic replied, spreading his arms and pleading for an explanation, "You mean you're _okay_ with being split across five different bodies?"

Tails shifted uncomfortably with all his components.

"Sonic..." 

"My component bodies..."

"Have developed their own..."

"Unique personalities and..."

"Identities. In every conceivable..."

"Way, they _are..._ "

"Their own people."

Sonic looked between all five pairs of his brother's eyes, struggling to understand. "So what happens to them if you re-fuse?"

"Best case scenario..."

"Each personality..."

"Might manifest itself at different times..."

"In my recomposed form."

"More likely..."

"They become nothing but scattered memories, if even that."

"In effect, they..."

"... _Die._ "

A small smile worked its way onto five different faces. "Five lives for one..." Tails spoke through Squirt this time, the little fox dangling his legs over the edge of the sofa. "Not fair, huh?"

Sonic set himself down on the sofa beside Squirt and released a deep sigh. "But Tails..." he said quietly, looking into the smallest fox's face, "What about you?"

Squirt, looking so much like Tails when he'd been a small cub, gave his big brother a smile. "I'll still be around..."

"I don't think this syncing ability is going away anytime soon..." he spoke as Blitz, moving the body over and resting on the sofa arm.

"And maybe one day..." Feather said now, moving to stand before Sonic with arms folded.

"I can find a way..." Blade spoke up from his usual armchair.

"To create my own body..." Doc said, adjusting his goggles.

"And become my own individual again..." Tails finished through Squirt, still sat beside Sonic. "And then there'll be six of us! But I'm sure you can handle it..."

Sonic shook his head and wore a sad grin, tears forming in his eyes at his brother's ultimate fate, split between five different forms, perhaps for the rest of his life... or _lives_. "Jeez dude..." he said lightly, "I'd hug ya but..." He gestured around at all five foxes, "I dunno where to start..."

Tails formed a smile on Squirt's face. "I'll handle that..." he said simply, before leaning over and wrapping Sonic in a tight hug.

Next up, he moved through Feather who also joined the embrace. Then directed Blade from his chair to join in. Before long, Tails had enveloped his adoptive brother in a pile of orange fur of slightly varying shades, the blue hedgehog almost consumed by the floof.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh. Despite everything, his brother was at least still _there..._ and now, it seemed, they had five new brothers. Each a part of Tails in their own way, but also individuals, who would have their own lives to lead. 

"Okay..." Sonic chuckled, fruitlessly attempting to escape from the overwhelming fluff-pile, "Okay Tails, come on! I need to breathe!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sonic hummed to himself as he entered his brother's workshop, a plate containing a ham-salad sandwich in one hand and a soda in the other. The hedgehog wandered past workbenches filled with tools and spare parts, and ducked beneath the wing of a gleaming red biplane as he searched for his brother. He found the fox in question situated at his usual workstation, clicking away at his computer.

"Hey buddy..." Sonic said as he approached the fox, causing orange ears to perk at his voice, "Got you some grub!"

The fox hummed, not looking to the hedgehog as he halted beside his workstation. "That desk please, Sonic..." he gestured to a separate desk nearby, not once taking his eyes from the screen.

Sonic shrugged and did as he was asked, setting the sandwich and the soda down beside one another. He wiped his hands off and set them on his hips, peering over his brother' shoulder at the information on the screen. "So..." the hedgehog said uncertainly, "What'cha working on, little buddy?"

"Hyper-magnification quantum deblazeriser," the fox replied flatly.

"Oh," said Sonic, nodding his head sagely. "And, uh... what does that mean exactly?"

The fox turned and offered him a flat stare from behind opaque red goggles, not an ounce of emotion in his features. "Is it worth my time explaining? Because it would take a while to describe the function of-"

"Jeez, okay buddy!" Sonic raised his hands in surrender, "Forget I asked!" the hedgehog gestured to the food he had delivered. "Just make sure you get that down you, okay dude? I don't want you forgetting to eat again. Gotta keep up your strength, little buddy!"

His brother simply grunted in reply, his attention focused squarely on his computer screen once again.

Sonic sighed. Damn kid's gonna need glasses, he thought to himself.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it..." the hedgehog said as he turned to leave, "See you later, Doc. Don't stay up too late.

Another grunt was his response, and with that Sonic left the workshop.

The hedgehog meandered through the combined workshop-house with food on the brain, though he didn't get too far before a small bundle of hyperactive orange fluff slammed into his torso with a squeak.

"Ah! Jeez, Squirt!" Sonic gasped, his assailant hopping away, "What's the rush?"

"Blitz is tryn'a catch me!" the fox designated Squirt giggled, fiddling with a toy aeroplane, "An' he can't 'cos he's too slow!"

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" Squirt yelped and darted around behind Sonic's back as yet another orange fox, of slightly darker hue with spiked-back head fur, rounded the hallway and grinned. "Sorry Sonic!" 'Blitz' said with a smirk, "The squirt pounced me while I was nappin', so I'm after a little payback!"

"'E's lyin'!" Squirt giggled, tails swishing playfully, "I din't do nothin'!"

"Oh is he?" Sonic winked at Blitz, turning and wrapping a comforting arm around the smaller fox, "Well, I tell you what..." Squirt squealed as Sonic grabbed him beneath the armpits and began tickling abruptly, creasing up and attempting to curl into a ball with wild shrieks. "No... pouncing... your... brothers!" the hedgehog said as he tormented his younger brother, eventually relenting and letting the small fox go. Squirt yipped and tore off down the hall, scrambling over the wooden floor in his red and white sneakers.

Sonic and Blitz shared a lopsided grin, wearing the same cocksure pose. "Having fun?" Sonic said, raising an eyebrow.

Blitz chuckled. "'S'what little brothers are for, right? Tormenting?"

Sonic raised a wagging finger. "Not to rough!"

Blitz smirked and slicked back his spiky head fur. "Whatever you say, Sonic!"

With that the fox went off in pursuit of his prey, and Sonic was left with his hands on his hips and an incredulous expression over his face.

The hedgehog's next stop was the living room, within which a sullen figure slouched on the sofa, a gamepad in his hands and the sound of digitized gunshots crackling from the tv.

Sonic stood beside the sofa. "Hey, Blade, uh..." he said awkwardly, "What'cha playing?"

"Carjack Carnage Seven..." the fox replied moodily.

"Oh..." said Sonic, wincing as onscreen a car barrelled through a crowd of pedestrians. Beside him, Blade smirked at his older brother's discomfort.

"You..." Sonic said, thinking of something he could say, "Thinking of doing anything else?"

Blade shrugged. "Like what?"

"I dunno," Sonic replied, folding his arms, "Like... going outside for some fresh air? Seeing if Doc needs help in the workshop?"

Blade grunted. "No."

"Oh. So you're just gonna sit here and play video games all day."

"Uh-huh."

Sonic sighed at Blade's typical sulking response. This fox had a particular attitude problem, in a way reminding Sonic of Shadow. He'd even styled his head fur into a flap and dyed it black. However, where Shadow was driven to achieve his goals no matter what, Blade just sulked and slouched around.

"Okay well..." Sonic said, turning to leave the room as Blade's character began beating a man to death with a baseball bat, "Nice talkin to ya! We should have these conversations more often!"

Blade grunted, and Sonic shook his head as he left him to his game.

He wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a bag of chips from the refrigerator, popping them open and inserting a handful into his mouth. He peered out of the window to the garden and found a final orange figure, cross-legged in the grass.

He shrugged, moving to the nearby door and heading outside to talk to his fifth brother.

"Hey!" Sonic called happily as he treaded over the grass, "What'cha doin'?"

The fair-furred individual designated Feather turned and offered Sonic a gentle wave as the hedgehog approached, a peaceful look over his face.

Sonic reached his brother and joined him on the ground, offering the bag of chips, which was declined.

"What's up, buddy?" Sonic said as he settled beside the fox, "Enjoying yourself?"

Feather nodded blissfully. "It's nice out here..." he said, running his hand through the grass and looking out over the sea beside the cliff upon which their workshop-home nestled, "With the wind, and the flowers and the ocean... I like it. It helps bring me... peace."

"Yeah I can see that..." Sonic chuckled, "You look like you're about to noddle off!"

Feather leaned back on his hands and let out a happy sigh. The normally shy and uncertain fox, more effeminate in build than his brothers, appeared perfectly at ease right here.

Sonic leaned back on his elbows and crossed his legs at the ankles, allowing the gentle fox's mood to influence him. "Yeah.." he said with a grin, "Sometimes it's just nice to lay back, not a care in the world..." the hedgehog lay down now with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "nothing to do but just lay here and enjoy the sun..."

Beside him Feather's brow creased. "Sonic..." the fox said, mild concern in his voice, "You... haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Huh..." Sonic offered a dopey grunt in response, declining to open his eyes. "Forgotten what..."

Feather gawped at his brother as though he were an imbecile. "Your... date? With Amy?"

"Uh-huh..." Sonic murmured, "My date w-" Sonic's eyes now snapped open and he bolted upright, tranquil humour evaporating instantly. "MY DATE WITH AMY?!"

Feather shook his head in disbelief, trying not to laugh. "You are _unbelievable,_ Sonic..."

"Ah, jeez..." Sonic groaned, slapping a palm to his face, "I forgot about that..."

"Well you better get a move on!" Feather nudged his brother lightly, "If you want to be ready in time!"

"Are you kidding?!" Sonic gawped, "I only said that to get her off my back! I need to get outta here..."

"Sonic..." Feather folded his arms and tutted, "You're seriously going to bail again?"

"Damn straight! I thought this crap was over!" Sonic hopped to his feet and looked around nervously, as though the pink hedgehog might burst from the surrounding foliage at any moment. "Look, Feath, I'm getting outta here for the night! You guys get a takeout or somethin', make sure Squirt gets to bed on time, don't let Doc stay in that workshop all night-"

"Sonic..." Feather said gently yet forcefully, raising an eyebrow. "We can manage, okay?"

"Yeah..." Sonic tried to calm his breathing and shot the fox a thumbs-up, "Thanks buddy! And if Amy calls, tell her... jeez I dunno, tell her I've gone to rescue the... president... of space or something..."

"Wait, where are you actually go-" Feather didn't get to finish his query as Sonic boosted away in a flash of blue, causing nearby trees to rustle with the sudden wind.

"-ing..." Feather sighed. He shook his head, the lengthening head fur brushing against his shoulders, before he delicately rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around himself, taking one last look at the ocean before retiring indoors.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay guys!" Blitz slapped a box of pizzas on the kitchen table with a huge grin, "grub up!"

The five foxes hungrily reached out to grab pizza and fries, bantering among themselves as they dug in.

"I wan' the cheese!"

"Who ordered the anchovies and... pineapple?!"

"Boys please, try and be tidy?"

"The anchovies and pineapple is mine."

"Ew dude, gross!"

"You just don't understand taste, faker!"

"I wanna soda!"

The organised chaos in the kitchen was just about contained as the foxes tucked in, Blitz and Blade occupied opposite ends of table while Doc took the side, Squirt settling himself on Feather's lap as the smallest fox smooshed cheese pizza into his face.

"Squirt, you're going to get grease all in your fur..." Feather said fussily, reaching for a napkin to wipe the smaller fox's face off.

Blade snorted. "Not like the goober can get any messier..."

"I'm not a goober!" Squirt cried defensively.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Hey!" Blitz raised his hands and grinned at the display, "come on guys, chill!"

"I find this bickering utterly pointless..." Doc said dryly, adjusting his goggles. "Could you please be quiet before you give me a headache?"

Blade offered his brother a rude gesture while Squirt stuck his tongue out.

The foxes ceased their bantering as they ate, until eventually their eyes flicked between one anothers' knowingly.

"Okay guys..." Blitz spoke up, "I think we know what time it is..."

Blade snorted. "Really? Now?"

"Part of the agreement, Blade..." Blitz glared sternly at his twin.

"We... did all agree..." Feather put in, gently stroking the back of Squirt's head.

"We gotta share with Tails!" Squirt said, folding his arms obstinately.

Blade huffed moodily as his brothers all looked at him expectantly, offering a resigned shrug. "Fine..." he muttered, "whatever..."

With that, all five foxes closed their eyes and relaxed, settling into their positions. Moments later, as one, they opened their eyes... and once again, became Miles Prower.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tails blinked with five pairs of eyes, looking between himselves from five different perspectives. He sighed through five mouths, sluggishly coordinating his fractured intelligence.

He leaned back in his seat as Blade, opening his mouth wide. As Blitz he reached out and plucked a fry from its paper bag, nonchalantly tossing the morsel across the table and snapping it up in Blade's jaws. Meanwhile, he turned his head as Squirt and allowed himself, as Feather, to wipe Squirt's greasy face clean with a cloth. Across the table he stood up as Doc, grabbing a large bottle of soda and pouring himself a drink. While his other selves ate he drank, watching his other four bodies tuck in and savouring the bizarre sensation of eating and drinking as five separate beings.

Being a split consciousness was taxing, and disorienting, but after almost two weeks since fracturing himself he was becoming proficient in manoeuvring his separate selves around as they synced. It was also utterly fascinating, a state of being previously unimaginable to the twin-tailed fox. Perhaps he would write about his experience upon returning to an individual state.

If he ever returned to an individual state. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Not without effectively killing the five personalities known as Blitz, Blade, Feather, Squirt and Doc.

Tails settled all his bodies and continued eating. In silence, of course. What was he supposed to do, have a conversation with himself?"

He couldn't help but chuckle, a sound that was strangely eerie from five different mouths. He'd once felt so alone, being the only twin-tailed fox in existence. Now he was five twin-tailed foxes. Funny how things turned out.

He thought about his parents, who had seemingly abandoned him as an infant. At least, that's what he had been told by the people back in Emerald Hills. There was a chance his tormentors had been lying to him, just to make him feel that much worse about his condition, but Tails still harboured dark thoughts about his mother and father.

 _Huh. If they could see me now..._ he thought through five different minds, anger, melancholy, longing, uncertainty and ambivalence running through all five forms.

Then something snapped and Tails suddenly felt less... whole. He felt himself slipping, and four sets of ears perked out of sync while a small voice sniffled.

He turned his other bodies to find Squirt sniffling and rubbing at his eyes, and realised his consciousness no longer fully extended to the smallest fox.

He sighed. It seemed that his emotional compromise across five bodies had been a little too much, and Squirt had broken out of sync. Tails allowed his himself to recede, once again flowing back into his separate forms, the individual foxes regaining control while he watched, like a ghost, from behind their eyes.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey! Hey, buddy..." Blitz left his chair, head pounding as his own personality took over, and moved over to Squirt who was now in a full on crying fit in Feather's lap. "What's wrong?"

Blade snorted from the end of the table. "What do you think's the matter?" he said darkly, glaring as Feather gently hushed and stroked at Squirt's head, "It's _him."_

Blitz gave his twin a stern look, but said nothing. He knew, as they all did, that Tails had been thinking of their parents. The nature of their relationship with the sixth intelligence was strange, but the five foxes were present in some fashion while Tails was in control.

"It's okay..." Feather cooed, settling his smaller brother, "It's okay..."

"I..." sniffled Squirt, rubbing at his eyes, "I wan' my mom and dad..." he looked up to Blitz with big wet eyes. "Why'd they 'bandon us, Blitz? Why'd they leave us 'lone?"

Blitz ruffled Squirt's head and offered a small smile. "I dunno buddy..." he said, his smile not reaching his eyes, "maybe they just lost us?"

Another snort, again from Blade. "Huh, yeah right..." the moody fox said, fixing his scowling eyes on Squirt's. "You wanna know why they abandoned us?" he said coldly, Squirt's ears flattening under the scrutiny, "You wanna know why they didn't want us? 'Cos we were a two-tailed mutant _freak,_ that's why!

"Blade!" Blitz snapped, glaring at his twin, "That's enough! You're upsetting him!"

"I didn't do jack..." Blade muttered, glowering at a slice of anchovy and pineapple pizza, "You know I'm right, Blitz."

"We... don't know the whole story..." Feather said, ears drooping as he spoke up.

"Don't kid yourself, feather-head..." Blade smirked condescendingly, "Why else would they have just chucked us out on the street?"

"Maybe they really did lose us!" Blitz said, while Feather folded under Blade's condescending demeanour.

"And never come looking for us?" Blade spat, "Get real." Blade turned toward Doc, who had been characteristically silent through the whole conversation. "Come on professor..." he said darkly, "you know I'm right, right?"

Doc cleared his throat and clapped his hands on the table. "Blade's assumption is highly likely," the goggled fox said. "If we really were lost, and our parents cared for us, they would have taken steps to contact us when we became famous alongside Sonic for fighting Robotnik."

"Well..." Blitz said, running a hand through his spiked-back hair, "maybe they died!"

"In which case, there would be no point in searching," Doc replied emotionlessly, "It would be a waste of time and resources travelling the zones in search of parents who potentially abandoned us due to an unforeseen genetic mutation, who want nothing to do with us, who may by now have expired."

Blitz shook his head while Squirt buried his face in Feather's chest fluff, but said nothing.

"And you know it, don't you mister 'nice-guy'?" Blade muttered, glaring at Blitz, "You know there's no point in trying..."

"I wan' my mom..." Squirt whimpered, Feather continuing to stroke his head, "I wan' my mom..."

Blade scraped his chair back and scowled. "I'm done..." he muttered, turning tails and slouching away, "stupid conversation anyway..."

Doc cleared his throat and also left the table. "I have work to do..." the fox adjusted his goggles. "Excuse me."

Feather sighed and looked toward Blitz. "What do you really think happened, Blitz?" the effeminate fox said, "to our parents?"

Blitz palmed his face and shrugged. "You know what Feath? I dunno." the spiky-haired fox stood from his chair and looked sourly at the greasy boxes of leftover pizza. "And I don't really care..."

Without another word, the usually chipper fox strode from the kitchen without looking back.

Feather sadly watched his brothers leave, Squirt looking around to regard him with big pleading eyes. "Feather?" the smaller fox whimpered, "did I upset ever'body?"

Feather looked down to his 'little brother' and gave him a comforting smile. "No Squirt, you didn't upset anybody..."

Squirt snuggled into the other fox's chest, staring at the mess left on the table. "Wha' d'you think 'appened to mom an' dad?"

Feather smiled sadly. "I don't know, kiddo..." he said honestly, "maybe one day we can find out... everything right now is just... a little new, you know?"

Squirt nodded, and then his maw opened wide in a long, squeaky yawn.

Feather chuckled. "Ready for bed?"

Squirt shook his head, eyes drooping as he clung to his bigger brother. "Nu-uh..."

"Sure..." Feather replied. "D'you want to go watch some tv?"

Squirt shook his head again, snuggling deeper into Feather's fur.

"Do you want to stay here for a bit?"

Squirt nodded slowly, eyes almost completely closed now, small weight sinking into his brother's chest.

"Okay..." Feather said softly, "we'll stay here for a little while..."


	4. Chapter 4

Doc Prower didn't ask for much in life. Just peace, quiet, and time to perform his work.

None of which were being offered him at this given time.

"What's that?"

Doc sighed. "Fuel intake..."

"Oh... what's those?"

"Spark plugs."

"Oh... and what's-"

"Squirt..." Doc turned over on his back and glared at his present company from behind his goggles, "do you remember _anything_ about biplane engine maintenance?"

Beside him, Squirt Prower ducked his ears and fiddles with the toy plane he insisted on carrying around with him everywhere he went. "I'unno..." the smaller fox said, "I jus' wanted to 'elp..."

"Well, you aren't helping..." Doc replied, returning to his work on maintaining the Tornado's engines, "If you'd really like to help, you could start by maybe going away and leaving me in peace..."

"You're mean!" Squirt pouted, shuffling into a cross-legged position on the floor of the workshop.

"I'm practical," Doc replied idly.

"Hey dudes, how's it hanging?"

Doc grunted in annoyance yet again, this new interruption as unwelcome as that offered by his 'little brother'. 

"Blitz!" Squirt was up and scampering toward the other fox as Blitz Prower entered the workshop, the taller fox hitching the smaller into his arms like a small child, "Doc's bein' mean! He said I was dumb!"

"That right, huh?" Blitz replied, the spiky-haired fox approaching the gleaming red plane in a pair of Sonic's old sneakers, "What's the story, Doc?"

"The story..." the irritable fox replied from below, "is that the squirt won't stop badgering me about the condition of the Tornado..." the goggled face emerged from beneath the plane, glowering in frustration.

"He's only curious!" blitz said defensively, "right buddy?" 

"Right!"

"Yes well, be that as it may..." Doc retorted, standing from his work position, "he has retained the least amount of knowledge out of any of us, least of all mechanical, and constantly being asked to describe the internal workings of a turboprop engine is beginning to get on my nerves."

"Let him be, Doc..." the other fox replied, running a hand through his spiked back head fur.

"How long's it gonna be?" Squirt chirruped, hopping from Blitz' arms and investigating the plane, ears perked and nose twitching eagerly.

"A lot quicker if I had some actual help..." Doc offered a pointed glare at Blitz, who spread his arms defensively.

"Hey, I been exercising!" the other fox grinned innocently, "gotta keep these tails in shape, buddy! You never know when ol' egg-for-brains is gonna make a reappearance!"

"When it's finished, can I fly it?!" Squirt piped up excitedly, eyes gleaming and face splitting into a hopeful grin. His tails waggled while Blitz and Doc exchanged nervous glances.

"Well buddy..." Blitz replied, "maybe we can sort something out..."

"Absolutely not!" Doc snapped, "I'm not putting this thing back together just to have it smashed into the ground in a millions pieces!"

"Hey!" Squirt's ears drooped at Doc's outburst, "I won' crash nuffin!" the small fox protested, clutching his toy plane to his chest.

"Oh, I'm sure..." Doc said sarcastically, "I'm sure your lack of engineering knowledge is surpassed by extreme piloting skill..."

"I like planes!"

"Yes, and Sonic likes chilidogs, that doesn't make him any good at cooking them!"

"You're bein' mean!"

"And you're being irritating!"

"GUYS!!!"

Blitz raised his hands and gestured for calm, finally tiring of the bickering between his two brothers. The spiky-haired fox offered a lopsided grin and ruffled Squirt's hair. "Like I said," he continued, "we'll figure something out..." He leaned over and grinned to his little brother. "Maybe we can ask Sonic when he gets back from visiting Knux? See if he'll let us take you for a flight?

Doc folded his arms and huffed. "Well, unless you've actually interested in _learning_ and not bending my ears, don't interfere with my work!" he directed this to Squirt, who glowered petulantly from Blitz's side. "Now if you'll _both_ excuse me..." the goggled fox turned back to the plane and lowered to the floor, readying himself to slide back beneath the frame, "I have work to do..."

Blitz sighed and gave Squirt a little squeeze. "C'mon buddy..." he said, grabbing Squirt beneath the arms and lifting the smaller fox up, "let's go make some supper, and then you're going to bed!"

Squirt didn't reply, simply allowing himself to be carried from the workshop, looking back longingly at the Tornado.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay little dude..." Blitz said, depositing a sleepy Squirt into the bed they had all once shared as Tails, "bedtime..."

The smaller fox shuffled around beneath the covers, releasing a squeaky yawn as his bigger brother tucked him in. "No'... sleepy..."

"Yeah, sure you're not..." Blitz grinned, while the smaller fox cuddled with his favourite toy plane, "but you gotta get your sleep! Get that big brain rested and ready for learning, right?"

Squirt didn't answer, big blue eyes flicking uncertainly down to the foot of his bed. "Blitz..." the fox cub said quietly, "do you 'fink I'm dumb?"

"What? No!" Blitz said in shock, his eyes widening at Squirt's sudden self-doubt, "of course I don't! Why'd you think that, little buddy?"

Squirt shrugged. "'Cuz you guys are all like, smart an' grown-up an' stuff, and I don't know nuffin'..." the cub said miserably, "I'm jus' a dumb little kid..."

"Hey, you're not a dumb little anything..." Blitz said soothingly, sitting himself on Squirt's bed, "you're a part of us! A part of Tails! Smartest fox on the planet, remember?"

Squirt didn't respond, fiddling with his toy plane. "Blitz?" he said quietly, "remember las' night? When we were talkin' 'bout mom an' dad?"

Blitz' grin faltered, not quite reaching his eyes now, "yeah, I remember buddy..." he replied solemnly, "you really miss 'em, huh?"

Squirt nodded. "You ever wanna go find 'em?"

Blitz forced himself to wear the typical lopsided grin he'd picked up from Sonic. "I dunno, little dude..." he said, "and that's the truth..."

Squirt looked away from his brother's eyes, and Blitz gestured out to the smaller fox. "Hey, c'mere..."

Squirt raised himself from his pillow and allowed himself to be taken into a hug by the 'older' fox, squeezing his face into Blitz's tufts of chest fut.

"You got your brothers to look after you, right?"

"uh-huh..."

"And we're never gonna let anything happen to you, right?"

"Promise?"

Blitz grinned genuinely as the big blue eyes of his younger brother looked up at him, and he shook the smaller fox gently. "Promise."

Squirt clung tightly to the other fox, the two sharing their embrace for several moments before Blitz scratted the top of Squirt's head.

"Okay bud, bedtime..."

Squirt yawned and shuffled down beneath the covers, hugging his plane close. "Night, Blitz..."

"Night buddy. Sleep tight."

The larger fox stood from the bed and made for the door, taking one last look at his smaller brother. Squirt had turned over beneath to covers, his back to the door, and had fallen utterly still and silent save for light breaths.

Blitz smiled warmly and hit the light, leaving the door slightly ajar as he exited the room.

He didn't notice Squirt creak open his eye and perk his ears, listening and waiting to make his move.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blitz snorted as he entered the living room, eyes flicking over to a near-identical figure slumped over the computer desk. "Looks like the squirt isn't the only one ready for bed," he chuckled, gesturing at the darker-furred, sleeping form of Doc.

Blade, from his position on the sofa, shrugged as he clicked away at a gamepad. "The professor said he weren't tired, and then he just zonked." the moody brother replied, "dumbass."

"Now now..." Blitz said cheekily, flopping down beside Blade and rocking him with the motion, "is that any way to talk about your beloved brothers?"

"Whatever, faker."

"Edgy-boy!"

"Spiky head."

"Emo!"

"Boys, please..." a fairer voice spoke from a chair across the room. Feather, wrapped in a purple gown and curled into his chair reading a magazine, flicked his long head fur out of his face and offered an exasperated look to his bickering brothers, "can you be civil for like five minutes?"

"Sorry, princess!" Blitz chortled, receiving a snort of laughter from Blade. The fair-furred fox rolled his eyes and gathered up his magazine, wrapping his gown closer around his effeminate body as he left the chair. 

"Well if that's how you're going to talk to me, I'm going to bed..." he said haughtily, offering his brothers an irritated glare.

"Sure thing your highness..." Blade replied dryly, flicking his dyed-black bangs out of his face.

"Check on the squirt, yeah?" Blitz said as his brother walked away, Feather clucking his tongue as he left.

"If I must..."

"Thanks! Love ya, bro!"

Feather left the room without another word, and Blade gestured after him with his controller.

"D'you think he's... a bit funny?" Blade said when he was sure Feather was out of earshot.

"I think he's one of my brothers, and I don't care if he's 'funny' or not." Blitz replied, giving the darker-furred fox a warning look. His face fell into his usual lopsided grin as Blade grunted, and he grabbed the other controller. "Okay bro, prepare for another butt-whooping!"

"I'll kick your ass, faker."

"You love me really, edgy-boy!"

Blade smirked. "Maybe. Let's play."

Blitz and Blade Prower prepared their game, while over at the computer desk Doc Prower snorted in his sleep.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feather Prower sighed as his brother's raised voices sounded from behind him. He loved them all really, despite their ribbing, but the effeminate, fair-furred fox found Blade and Blitz to be a little abrasive at times.

He smiled to himself however. Crazy to think they had all been, and still were in a way, the same person.

He silently wandered down the hall toward the Squirt's room, with the intent on checking up on their smallest brother on his way to his own quarters. A couple more bedrooms had been put together for the five brothers, made out of the spare rooms in Sonic and Tails' self-built workshop-home, especially for the component parts of the formerly individual fox.

He reached Squirt's room, the fox cub having his own space in Tails' old room, and gently pushed open the door. He tugged his gown around himself and squinted in the dark, his natural night-vision making up for the lack of light.

He paused, and then a spike of panic lanced through his heart.

Squirt's bed was empty.

"Bullshit!"

"Ha, in your face edgelord!"

"That's bullshit!"

Blitz cackled as Blade shoved him, the dark-haired fox having been beaten in their game of Mega Mutant Mash-em-up. His lighter-furred, spiky-headed brother chuckled and tossed a pillow back at him, the commotion causing a still-sleeping Doc to snort and mumble idiotically as he slept.

"Boys! Boys!!!"

Both foxes perked their ears and ceased their bickering as a distressed Feather ran into the room, gown flowing behind him and an alarmed expression on his face. Doc woke with a startled yelp, his goggles comically askew across his face.

"Whu... whuz' ha'nnin'?!?"

"Yo, what's the matter princess?" Blitz chortled, while Doc came around, "we interrupt your beauty sleep?" Feather glared at his brother, Blitz's ears drooping beneath the scrutiny. "Sorry bro, I'm just playin' around..."

"Can you PLEASE be serious?!" Feather snapped, crossing his arms like an angry older sister, "we have a situation!"

Blitz sat up straight, suddenly serious. "What's going on?" he said, regarding his brother with concern.

"It's Squirt!" Feather replied, "he's not there!"

Blade frowned. "What d'you mean, 'not there'?"

"What do you think I mean, Blade?" Feather snapped, "I mean he's not there! As in 'gone'! Are you sure you tucked him in, Blitz?"

Blitz stood to his feet, hands on hips as a deadly serious expression fell over his face. "I swear the little guy was zonked when I left him!"

"So, what are we gonna do?" Blade spoke up, standing beside his spiky-headed brother, "just stand here yapping?"

"No..." Blitz shook his head, "We'll split up. Go find him. He has to be around here somewhere..."

"Yes, but where?" Doc said as he joined the other foxes, sleepily rubbing his eyes.

As Doc finished his query, the hum of thrumming engines sounded from the workshop hangar, and each fox exchanged incredulous looks.

Feather clapped his hands to his face. "The Tornado!!!"

"Don't just stand there!!" Blitz cried, "let's go!"

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Squirt had waited until Blitz had been gone several minutes before making his move. Silently, clutching his toy plane defensively, he crept from his bedroom and made for the hangar.

His ears had drooped when he heard his brothers talking between themselves, ribbing and playing with one another. He didn't want to leave them really, he loved his bigger brothers with all his heart. But he knew they'd never go along with his plan, so he had to do this himself.

He had hesitated in the hall, torn between abandoning his brothers and doing what he had to do... and had made up his mind when Feather had been asked to check on him. It was now or never, and so the little fox had turned and scampered down the hall, making for the hangar.

The little fox had clambered into the red hull of the Tornado, settling himself in the pilots seat and fixing the leather pilot's helmet over his head. He set his toy plane beside him and strapped himself into the seat, lowering his goggles and observing he controls with excited eyes. It was working! He was doing it!

His face fell and his excitement evaporated as Squirt realised... he had no idea how to operate the plane.

He struggled to remember... and slumped in his seat. Tears began to form in his eyes as Squirt realised just how useless he felt... his brothers had all inherited something useful from Tails when they had split. Blitz was super confident and sure of himself, Blade was tough, Doc was super smart and Feather... Feather was the kindest fox of them all. Squirt... Squirt was useless.

"I really am a dumb little kid..." he muttered miserably, staring at the dash through impotent tears.

The little fox reached out and tapped at a couple of buttons, seemingly at random... and frowned. The e motion had been automatic, but he was sure it... _felt right._ licking his lips, Squirt raised his other hand and flicked a switch. He was rewarded with the plane's instruments lighting up.

Hardly daring to believe his luck, Squirt tapped away at the plane's controls... until eventually, the engines kicked in, and the Tornado hummed into life, her propeller swirling. Squirt lowered his flight goggles and grinned, reaching out and clutching the flight stick. He had his plan, and now it was time to see if he could fly.

"SQUIRT!!!" A voice called out from behind and Squirt swivelled in his seat to to find an alarmed Blitz leading a trio of near-identical twin-tailed foxes toward him, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Squirt didn't reply, simply returning his attention to the plane's controls and hitting the accelerator. The craft taxied out of the hangar as fast as he could pilot her, his brothers hot on his tails.

By now, Blitz and the others were flying after him, the spiky-haired fox almost level with the cockpit as the Tornado took to the air.

"SQUIRT!" Blitz called after him, "STOP THE PLANE RIGHT NOW!"

"I have to go!" Squirt called back, "but I'll come back! I promise!"

With that, the Tornado's afterburners ignited, the heavily modified biplane boosting forward far faster than the foxes could follow, and left a trail of rocket smoke as she shot through the night sky like a missile.

Blitz stopped in mid-air, watching hopelessly as the craft disappeared into the cloud cover, and swore as the smallest Prower vanished into the night.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't believe it..." Blitz growled as he prowled the empty hangar bay, his brothers gathered around as they igured out what to do, "I don't believe it!"

"It's not your fault, Blitz..." Feather said soothingly, gently resting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah, well, he got away didn't he?" Blitz snapped, "I should've been faster..."

"The Tornado is built for speed, Blitz..." Doc said matter-of-factly, "With her engines and fuel reserves she can outfly and outlast us. We could have flown all night and still lost him."

"What the hell was that all about, anyway?" Blade said sullenly, fiddling with a penknife as he leaned on a workbench, "why'd he steal the Tornado?"

"Because the professor here..." Blitz glared angrily at Doc, "convinced him he was a dumb little kid who couldn't do jack!"

Doc sniffed and clasped his hands behind his back. "Given his lack of knowledge on the Tornado's systems and general immaturity, I assumed he would be likely incapable of operating the plane in flight."

"Yeah well, he proved you pretty damn wrong didn't he?"

"Boys, please..." Feather set himself between the two foxes and gestured for calm, before wrapping his gown tighter around his fur. "If Squirt just wanted to prove himself..." he said lightly, lengthening head fur brushing over his shoulders as he looked between his two brothers, "he would have come back by now. He's going somewhere." Feather's bright blue eyes locked on those of Blitz's, regarding the spiky-haired fox patiently. "Blitz... did he say anything... strange tonight when you tucked him in?"

Blitz swallowed, his ears drooping as the cogs began to work. "He... spoke about wanting to find our parents again..." he said, eyes widening at the realisation.

Blade snorted, pointing his knife at his brothers. "That's it then..." he said darkly, "he's off to find dear old mom and pops..."

"That would be a reasonable assumption, yes..." Doc agreed.

"Okay, so we have an idea of what he's up to..." Father said patiently, wrapping his arms around his slender form, "so what do we do now?"

"Well..." Blade huffed, "where would you start if you wanted to find our parents?"

All four foxes exchanged glances, the four brothers coming to the same unanimous conclusion.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emerald Hills.

Squirt nervously clutched his toy plane as he stood before a small town, the straps of his aviator's helmet hanging loose and framing his face. He didn't want to go there. He didn't have good memories of this run down place.

But if he wanted to find his mommy and daddy... the cub would have to be brave. Just like his older brothers.

Filled with determination, the small fox cub clutched his plane and stepped forward, passing the sign and heading for Tails' home town.


	5. Chapter 5

Emerald Hills.

A land of golden beaches, palm trees... crystal clear waters and a bright, crisp sun gleaming through fluffy white clouds.

A land of slums, and crime, and corruption.

Coconut Bay was Emerald Hills' prime trading port. Ships filled the bay, spilling goods and sailors into the city streets. Merchants and traders sold their wares in the bustling plazas, people swarming for miles around in search of exotic and desirable goods... shady deals were made in the shadows, pickpockets scoured the crowds. Homeless folk went ignored in the streets, and woefully underpaid workers staffed the city's warehouses, and the gangs fought for control of drugs and territory... as well as less conventional goods.

Through the bustling crowds, attracting curious eyes and unsavoury attention, Squirt Prower tightly clutched his toy aeroplane to his chest and looked fearfully around at the crowds around him. The small fox, clad in his leather flight helmet and red sneakers, ducked his tails as close to his legs as he could and tried to go unnoticed.

He had memories of this place, inherited from when he and his brothers had been Tails... and he was scared. He remembered staying as far away from the crowds as he could, running into the outskirts, and being preyed on by the bullies who followed him.

He remembered it as though it were yesterday. Squirt was technically twelve years old, same as his brothers... but the smallest quintuplet was biologically five years old. Barely older than when Tails had been found by Sonic, and being back in this place was frightening for the little fox.

But he needed to be here. He needed to find his parents, and to do so, he needed to talk to people. Somebody in this town had to know where the Prowers were, or where they might have gone.

Squirt flinched as a pair of adults almost walked right over him, the larger mobians hurling curses at the boy as he rushed aside. Squirt hovered close to the stone wall of a tavern, clutching his plane to his chest. He craned his neck and looked up to the sign of the tavern, swinging above the wooden door.

He considered his options, eyeing the door to the tavern nervously, before steeling himself and pushing the heavy wooden door open and entering the tavern.

Squirt fearfully looked around the musky interior of the rowdy tavern, the public drinking house filled with inebriated folk from all across the zones. Suspicious eyes regarded the cub as he timidly stepped through the crowds of drinkers, patrons gesturing and muttering to one another at the strange little twin-tailed fox who slowly wandered toward the bar with his toy plane.

Squirt clambered onto a miraculously empty barstool, swinging his legs over and setting his hands on the bar. The bartender, a middle-aged beaver with a huge paunch and no distinguishable neck, stared at the child incredulously.  
"Wha' d'yer want, kid?" the beaver grunted, when he realised the fox wasn't going to leave.

Squirt flattened his ears and looked up to the man with big, gleaming blue eyes. "Sorry mister, I..." he said lightly, looking pleadingly up at the man, "I... I'm looking fer my mommy and daddy an'... an'..."

The beaver's eyes widened, a suddenly apprehensive expression over his features. The man seemed to look shrewdly around  
the noisy bar, before leaning in close to the little fox.

"Listen 'ere kid..." he hissed through mismatched broken teeth, "no bugger 'ere can 'elp yer... so if I was you, ah'd get me arse right outta 'ere an' back where tha came from, y'ere?" The man again took a quick look around the tavern, as though searching for trouble. "S'not safe 'ere..."

Squirt was about to nervously ask what the man meant by that, when a large glove clapped down on his tiny shoulder.  
Squirt craned his neck to find a large ragged brown wolf, clad in a scruffy trenchcoat and wearing a leering grin, glowering down at him with hungry eyes.

"Ah wou'nt worry 'bout that..." the stranger said, looking pointedly to the bartender, "Ah think me an' me pals can 'elp the lad... i'nt that right, Mick?"

The bartender swallowed hard and looked sadly to the fox boy, before nodding lightly and shrinking beneath the wolf's glare. "Yes sir, tha's right..."

"You can 'elp me find my mom an' dad?" Squirt piped up, big eyes beaming hopefully at the stranger. 

The wolf grinned like a predator eyeing up a meal, and took the little fox by the hand as he led him away.

"I think we can sort summat out, little 'un..." the wolf said, leading Squirt toward another pair of mobians, a boar and a jackal, who glared at the boy grimly, "me an' me mates'll sort summat..."

\---

"Nyoom! Brrr!! Powpowpow!!!"

On the outskirts of the town, in a large green field framed by coconut trees, two local urchins occupied the cockpit of the gleaming red biplane that had been parked there early in the day. The two jackals, brother and sister, were busy playing pilots, pretending to dogfight with imaginary enemy aircraft.

"Oh no! We're 'it!"

"Bad guys on 'are tail!"

"bang bang bang!!"

the jackal pups giggled and jabbed buttons in the inactive plane.

"This is so cool!" the boy said, jiggling the flight stick.

"'ho leaves a plane jus' lyin' about like this?" the girl leaned over from the rear seat

"D'yer think we can start it up?"

"I'unno!" the boy began tapping at the plane's instruments, having no idea what he was doing, "let's give it a go!"

The two jackals' ears perked as a low thrumming echoed over the trees, carried by the light breeze. The looked up from the cockpit... to find a flight of four specks approaching above the forest.

The pups' jaws flapped open as, like a wing of attack helicopters, four near-identical foxes flew toward them and three touched down into the grass, a fourth landing on the wing of the biplane.

Blade folded his arms and glowered at the pups. "Get. Out."

"Blade, leave them alone..." Feather said gently, "they're just kids..."

"Hey guys!" Blitz spiked up his hair and grinned at the jackals, "you having fun in out plane?"

The jackals hopped from the plane and into the grass, looking with wonder at the four foxes. "You guys can fly???" the girl said with excitement.

"Sure can!" Blitz grinned, kneeling down to meet the kids at their level while Blade hovered down from the plane. "Maybe you kids can help us! We're looking for our brother. He's about your guys' age, 'bout the same height... you seen him around?"

The jackals glanced to one another nervously. "Mister... is he on 'is own?"

"What do you think?" Blade grunted, the smaller jackals flattening their ears at the dark fox's scrutiny.

"Blade, please..." Feather rolled his eyes and leaned down beside Blitz, hands on the knees of his denim dungarees. "Yes, he took our plane and left last night..." the long-haired fox smiled sweetly, "we need to find him, because he might be in trouble... do you know where we might be able to find him?"

The jackals shuffled nervously, though they appeared to have been swayed by the gentle fox. "In't town..." the boy said, "but..."

"But what?" Feather said gently, when the jackal cub hesitated.

"If 'e's on 'is own..." the girl piped up, "kids go missin' if they're on their own..."

The brothers' faces fell, and they looked seriously into the Jackals' eyes.

"What do you mean?" Blitz said evenly, "kids go missing?"

"The gangs nick 'em!" the boy said, "they find kids an' they take 'em away!"

"We dun't go near the town! 'Are mum an' dad said not ter!"

Blade hissed a curse from behind, while Feather and Blitz looked to one another with apprehension.

"Okay guys..." Blitz said gently, doing his best to wear an appreciative grin, "thanks for your help!"

"'kay, mister!" the boy jackal said.

"Are we in trouble fer playin' in yer plane?" the girl said nervously, big brown eyes gleaming up at Blitz and reminding him far too much of his missing brother.

Feather shook his head and smiled. "No, don't be silly! We appreciate your help!"

"Thanks, miss!" 

"Can we go now?"

Blade snorted humourlessly at the misused pronoun, Blitz shooting him a warning glance.

"Yeah, on your way guys!" Blitz said to the jackals, the two cubs grinning and scampering away.

"Great..." Blade muttered, kicking at a scuff of grass, "just freaking great... so the little goober's been picked up by creepos..."

"Oh dear..." Feather wrapped his arms around himself, hugging his dungarees close to his slender form, "Squirt..."

"What should be our next course of action?" Doc said, lacing his hands behind his back.

"What do you think?" Blitz growled, shooting the goggled fox a glare, "we go into town, we find him... and we kick the shit out of whatever bastards took him."

Blade grinned maliciously, a dark gleam in his eyes. "Sounds like my kinda plan!"

...

Squirt sniffled, hugging his fluffy tails around himself defensively as he curled in the corner of the dingy room he found himself in. He was stupid. He was so stupid. The men had tricked him. They'd led him to this place and thrown him into this room, and left him all alone. He'd cried and pleaded to no avail, being totally ignored by the men. He didn't even know why they had been so mean to him, or what they were going to do to him.

Squirt was so, so stupid.

He clutched his toy plane while he wrapped himself in his tails. His brothers wouldn't have been so stupid. His brothers would probably have found their parents by now, and wouldn't have trusted the strange men who had taken him.

And Tails... Tails would have broken out of here by now.

Squirt hated himself. His brothers had all inherited something useful from Tails. Blitz was cool and brave, Blade was tough and wouldn't take crap from anyone, Doc was hyper intelligent and could solve any problem, and Feather was the nicest and most gentle person Squirt knew. Squirt... was just a dumb little kid.

He sniffed, eyes sore from crying scanning the dingy room. There was a small air vent up in one corner he hadn't noticed yet, and Squirt climbed to his feet to tentatively investigate.

He looked up to the vent. He figured that he would be able to squeeze through if he flew up... but he had no tools. Nothing to remove the grate with.

He whimpered, feeling utterly useless.

_Hey!_

Squirt spun around with a yelp, eyes wide and ears perked. He could have sworn he heard somebody whisper to him from behind, a familiar voice that just couldn't be, and he had the distinct impression of somebody kneeled beside his discarded toy plane... 

He wandered slowly over to the plane and inspected the toy. Thoughts ran through his brain. If he disassembled the mettalic toy... he might be able to use the parts to unscrew the vent covering...

Suddenly, Squirt didn't feel so useless. He didn't want to destroy his beloved plane... but he wasn't going to sit here and wait for the men to come back.

He removed his gloves, grabbed his precious plane, and began to work at the casing with his claws.

...

"Ugh... I don't miss this freaking place, that's for sure..."

Blade muttered darkly as the four foxes entered Coconut Bay, his brothers wearing equal expressions of distaste.

"For once, you and I agree on something buddy..." Blitz replied, while beside him Feather wrapped his arms around himself.

"Where should we begin?" Doc said matter-of-factly, the emotionless fox seeming otherwise unfazed by being back in this town where he and his companions had suffered as Tails.

Blitz nodded toward a nearby tavern, from which a pair of sailors drunkenly stumbled from the door. "Let's ask in there."

Blade scoffed. "What, you think our little brother went into a bar?"

"A logical conclusion," Doc said approvingly, "drinking houses are often places where gossip is exchanged."

"If anyone knows what's going on in this town..." Blitz replied, "they'll be in there. Plus I could really use a drink right about now!"

Feather clucked his tongue. "Blitz, we're underage."

"Don't be a buzzkill, dude!" Blitz winked, Feather rolling his eyes while his brothers approached the bar.

All four foxes walked through the heavy wooden door to find the tavern rowdy and filled with drinkers, all of whom ceased in their revelling and locked their eyes on the new arrivals as though it were an old cowdog movie. Blitz was unfazed, striding through the bar with his brothers in tow, Blade scowling while Feather worried and Doc wore his usual expression of mild disinterest.

The bartender, a middle aged beaver with a beer gut, fixed the foxes with a bemused look, bewilderment plastered over his face as Blitz confidently stood before him, hands on hips.

"What'd'you wan'?" the beaver grunted, suspicious eyes flicking over the foxes.

Blitz grinned. "We're looking for our little brother!" He said without hesitation, "we heard this place is... trouble for lost kids. So..." the spiky-haired fox leaned forward, one eyebrow raised. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would ya?"

The beaver swallowed, glancing between each of the foxes. "Wha's 'e look like?"

"Oh, he's a giant purple cat with brain damage and diabetes," Blade deadpanned, glaring at the man. "What do you think he looks like, dumbass?"

"Blade!" Feather scolded his brother, nudging Blade in the ribs before looking pleadingly to the beaver. "I'm sorry sir, we're just very worried about our brother... we were told that lost children often go missing in this town... if you know anything about it, could you please help us?"

Conflict seemed to run over the beaver's face, before he let out a deep sigh and looked sadly between the foxes. "I'm sorry, miss..." he said directly to Feather, who didn't appear to refute the pronoun, "but I can't 'elp you or your brothers..."

"Tha's right, 'e can't..."

The brothers turned to find a gang of mobians, led by a boar and a gorilla, bearing down on them. The men did not appear friendly, eyeing the foxes like wary predators.

Blitz grinned confidently, utterly fearless of the gang. "Oh, is that right?" Blade and Doc stood to flank him, Feather worridely hovering to the side, "then maybe you boys could, huh?"

The boar glowered at Blitz, he and his cronies asserting themselves threateningly. The brothers couldn't help but notice the surrounding drinkers giving them space, moving away from the confrontation. "No, I don't think we could," the man said.

Blitz shrugged. "Then I guess we're at a little bit of an impasse, huh?"

"Where is he, you son of a bitch?" Blade growled, staring absolute death at the boar, "what've you done with our brother?"

The man set his shoulders. "Dunno what yer' talkin' about, cock."

"Boys, please..." Feather spoke up, fearfully looking between the gang members, "we just want to know where our brother is..."

"You migh' no' wan'..." the gorilla grunted, fists clenching, "ter ask ter many questions..."

The opposing mobians glowered at one another, the outcome of the confrontation never in doubt.

"Oh, fuck this..." Blade snarled, lunging forward with a punch and starting the fight.

...

The gang was composed of older men, each of them hardened criminals... but Tails had been fighting the forces of Robotnik since he was a cub. He was very much used to combat. And now there were four of him.

Blade continued putting harsh kicks into a fallen cyote, the crack of ribs sounding out through the bar. Blitz hopped into the air and delivered a boot to the boar's face, breaking teeth and sending the man sprawling. Doc put mechanical punches and kicks to his own enemies, and Feather screeched in alarm as a jackal reached out and grabbed him by the neck of his dungarees. The effeminate fox lashed out with claws extended, drawing blood and scrambling for cover.

The surrounding patrons jeered as the fight went on, and the battle-hardened foxes cleared the floor of their opposition.

There was a scream of fright, and the brothers ceased fighting and locked their eyes on the boar... who held his hands in surrender, a knife held at his throat. His cronies lay spread about the tavern floor, knocked unconscious in the fight.

"Blade!" Blitz raised his hands and gestured for calm, as his black-haired brother ran his knife against the boar's throat, an absolutely evil look over his face. "Let's just be calm, yeah?"

"Where is he?" Blade snarled, growling into the boar's pointed ear, "where's our brother, asshole?"

"Okay... Chaos, kid, jus' be cool..."

"You'd probably better cooperate..." Doc said matter-of-factly, "our brother is quite excitable..."

"Alrigh'! Alrigh'!" the boar's voice shook as he looked between the brothers pleadingly, "Ah'll tek yer ter where 'e's bein' 'eld! Jus' dun't 'urt me!"

Blade snorted. "Yeah, you'd better..."

Blitz shot Blade a look, before glaring into the boar's eyes. "Go on then," he said threateningly, "show us."

...

The boar, under duress, guided the foxes to a run-down building on the outskirts of town, yelping as Blade prodded his knife into his back.

"This the place?" Blitz said, glaring at the man.

"Yeah! 'E's bein' 'eld in there!" the boar said, apprehensively looking between he foxes, "I swear!"

Blitz leaned in close, glowering at the man... and then nodded to Blade. "Let him go."

Blade scowled. "Seriously? What if he's full of shit?"

"Let him go Blade. We don't take hostages."

Blade snorted, but complied and shoved the boar away, offering a kick to his ass for good measure. "Go on, get outta here you fucker!"

The boar squealed as Blade's foot connected, and he scarpered away through the now empty streets of the outskirts.

"Okay..." Feather said lightly, looking over the building with apprehension. "What if... what if there's more of them in there?"

"Then we'll deal with them," Blitz replied.

"Don't worry princess..." Blade said dryly, "we'll protect you..."

Feather ignored his brother, swallowing his nerves and wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

"Okay... Blitz said, gritting his teeth and balling his fists, "let's go find our lil' bro..."

...

Squirt yelped as he hauled himself through the now open air vent, pushing the grate away and sending the metal clattering into the alleyway outside. He grinned and squirmed out of the small opening, landing in a heap outside.

Squirt beamed triumphantly, discarding the part of his toy plane he had used to painstakingly removed the screws of the vents' grates. He had been lucky. Nobody had come to check on him, and he had been able to remove the grate and squeeze into the vent. A small while later, worming his way through the ventilation shafts... he was free.

Squirt climbed to his feet, whimpering as he registered a graze on his knee... and took off away down the alley.

...

Blitz and his brothers barged into the cramped, dingy room, breaking down the door with a combined effort. The brothers had swept the small building, taking down another couple of gang members, and had investigated every room they had come across to no avail. Blade held his knife ready, Blitz clenched his fists, and Feather cowered behind his brothers fearfully.

"Oh jeez..." Blitz hissed, dropping to his knees and gathering the parts of a very familiar, disassembled toy plane, "Squirt..."

"What's happening?" Blade called, covering the door behind his brothers while Feather joined Blitz on the ground.

"His plane..." Feather whispered, "his little plane..."

"Shit..." Blade grunted, peering over at the two foxes, "what d'you think they did with him?"

"Not a thing..." came another voice, and the three foxes looked up to find Doc inspecting a discarded grate on the floor... and an open air vent above. The vent was small... but Squirt could easily squeeze through. The goggled fox turned, hands behind back, and thoughtfully regarded his siblings. "I do believe our smallest brethren has escaped."

"You fuckin' kidding me?" Blade growled, sounding almost angry, "you mean he's back _out_ there while we're fuckin' around in here?!"

"If that's true," Blitz said grimly, raising to his feet and reaching out to help Feather up, "we don't have time to lose. Let's get back out there!"

...

Squirt tentatively rounded the corner of a red brick building, recognising the market plaza from before. The tavern was across the plaza, and he was highly reluctant to go anywhere near the place.

He retreated back behind the building. He had become lost in the winding streets, and was unsure where he was going... but he knew he had to get back to the Tornado, and get out of this place for good. He could continue his search for his parents elsewhere.

Squirt squeaked in alarm as a hand roughly grabbed his scruff, and he was lifted clean from the ground. He was spun around, feet dangling uselessly... to find the leering face of the yellow-toothed wolf, who had tricked him and locked him up.

"Well well well..." the wolf sneered, alcohol-tinted breath hitting Squirt's senses, "wha' are you doin' out 'ere?"

Squirt's ears flattened and he whimpered as his eyes met the wolf's. The man regarded him curiously, like freshly caught prey, while Squirt dangled from his gloved hand.

The little fox squeaked and began to thrash, kicking with his legs and lashing out with his claws. The wolf chuckled, holding him out at arm's length.

"I dun't like runaways..." the man growled, his pointed canines baring, "an' I ain' lettin' a tidy little profit like you get away... so ah reckon yer'd better pack it in before yer get 'urt... you understand me, yer little shit?"

Tears began to form in Squirt's eyes as he fruitlessly attempted to escape, the little fox's hopes for freedom evaporating as quickly as they'd been gained.

"Please..." he whimpered, ears flattening and lower limbs drooping, "please don' 'urt me..."

The wolf leaned close and snarled in Squirt's face, so close his nose almost touched the fox's.

"Lotta folks'll pay good for a little 'un like you..." he growled, yellow eyes boring into Squirt's, "but if I 'ave ter break yer... ah'll make yer wish yer'd stayed right put where ah left yer."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

The wolf turned, ears perking... and his mouth flopped open as he was faced with four near-identical foxes, glaring at him from down the street. His yellow eyes flicked between them, noting the small differences between each fox, understanding that these mobians must be the small one's family.

"Now now lads..." the wolf said tentatively, eyes briefly locking on the long-haired fox, "an' lass... this in't what it looks like, tha knows?"

"Funny..." the spiky-haired male said through grit teeth, "because it looks like you're holding our little brother and talking about beating the snot outta him..."

"Are you alright, Squirt?" the long-haired fox of indeterminate gender called out, "has he hurt you?"

"He's not gonna get the chance..." the dark-haired fox snarled, blue eyes staring death at the wolf while he flipped a knife in his hand.

"Sir, I would like to inform you that my siblings and I have already successfully incapacitated several of your apparent fellows..." the fox with the goggles said flatly, hands behind his back as though he were giving a lecture. "You can give us back our brother by choice... or we will be forced to take him from you."

The wolf looked between each fox, understanding his position. He grinned and slowly set the little fox down on his feet. "Sorry boys... I din't mean nothin' by it..."

The small fox scampered desperately back to his siblings, running right into the embrace of the long-haired fox with the dungarees. The wolf took a step back, hands raised, seemingly intent on bolting.

"What do we do with this piece of shit?" the black-haired fox glared at the wolf, gesturing with his knife. The wolf hesitated, unsure if he would be able to outrun these younger, fitter mobians.

The leader with the spiked hair stared daggers at the wolf. "Get out of here," he grunted, fists still clenched, "and don't let us see you again."

The wolf, unable to believe his luck, turned and scarpered, disappearing into the rapidly darkening evening.

The man now gone, Feather wrapped Squirt in the biggest hug he could offer, and the little fox buried himself in his larger sibling's embrace.

"Are you okay, baby?" the gentle fox cooed, running a hand through Squirt's neck fur. 

The small fox nodded, tears staining Feather's dungarees. "I... I thought they were gonna take me away..." he whimpered, "I thought I'd never see you guys again..."

"Well we're here now honey..." the larger fox said softly, "you're safe..."

"Letting him go..." Doc said, moving to stand beside Blitz and adjusting his goggles, "may have been a mistake, Blitz. Who knows what these men may be up to."

"For once..." Blade snorted, sheathing his knife in his belt, "I agree with the professor. We shouldn't've let any of 'em go!"

Blitz shrugged. "It's not like there's a police force here..."

"Yeah, I wasn't thinking about arresting 'em..." Blade replied darkly, earning himself a glare and a stern finger from his brother. 

"We don't. Kill people Blade..." Blitz said as evenly as he could manage, "that's not how Sonic raised us."

"Perhaps..." said Doc, "it may become practical to alter that approach..."

Blitz declined to respond, simply closing his eyes and releasing a heavy sigh.

"Come on, guys..." he said resignedly, "let's get outta this piece of shit town..."

...

The brothers returned home that very evening, landing the Tornado in the workshop hangar in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately for them, Sonic had yet to return from his own adventures, and so they had no uncomfortable explanations to make to their older brother.

They ordered pizza and let Squirt have whatever he wanted, spoiling their youngest sibling rotten, so happy to simply have him back safe. The boi received many hugs and fusses, and it wasn't long until the floofy little fox was noddling off to sleep.

Blitz grinned as Squirt yawned wide, reaching over and nudging Feather who still held the smallest fox in his arms. "You wanna do the honours, bro?"

Feather seemed to flinch a little, but his face fell into a warm smile and he lightly rocked Squirt in his grasp. "Come on, kiddo. Bedtime."

Squirt craned his neck and looked up at his siblings with big, scared eyes. "I dun't wanna go..."

"It's okay, little dude!" Blitz grinned, "we'll be right here, okay?"

"No..." Squirt shuffled in Feather's arms, nudging in closer to the gentle fox, "I dun't wanna..."

"Jus' let the little goober sleep here..." Blade spoke up, slouched in his usual position in his armchair, one foot resting on the coffee table while he tapped away at a video game, "where's the harm in that?"

"I'm no' a goober!" Squirt protested.

Blade smirked. "Total goober, goober!"

"Edgy-boy!"

Blade stuck his tongue out, causing his smaller sibling to giggle.

Blitz looked to his other brothers and sighed in defeat. "Sure thing little buddy..." he said, reaching out and ruffling Squirt's head, "and we'll stay right here with you, okay?"

Squirt nodded, curling up and wrapping his tails around himself. "Ye'r not gonna leave me?"

"Absolutely not, baby..." Feather said softly, adjusting Squirt's wonky flight helmet, "we'll be here all night to keep you safe..."

"Promise..." Squirt said vaguely, eyes closed as he snuggled into Feather's chest.

"Promise, little dude..." Blitz replied, watching as his smallest brother began to drift into unconsciousness.

"Blitz..."

"Yeah, little buddy?"

"C'n I... get a new plane..."

Blitz and Feather exchanged a glance, before switching their attention back to the sleepy cub. "Sure thing, kiddo..." Blitz said, "sure thing..."

Squirt said no more, no snoozing peacefully, still wrapped in Feather's embrace.

"I can't believe we almost lost him..." Feather said quietly, affectionately stroking his brother's neck. 

"Well fortunately, we were able to locate him in time." replied Doc, who tapped away at a laptop.

"Yeah..." muttered Blade, "lucky for the bastards we did... nobody screws with my family..."

"Good to hear it, edgy-boi..." Blitz replied, Blade snorting with laughter.

"Whatever, faker."

Blitz smiled, looking around at his brothers.

"Crazy to think..." Feather said, looking to Blitz with soft blue eyes, "that we all used to be one person..."

"Yeah, well..." Blitz replied, "we used to be... but whatever we are now, we're a team. We're a family. And if I have anything to do with it, we'll never, ever let each other down. No matter what."

Blade smirked. "True dat," the dark fox said.

"What about mom and dad?" Feather whispered, "this whole thing started when Squirt wanted to find our parents... maybe we should try and find them? For his sake?"

Blitz grimaced, sucking in air through his teeth as he considered.

"I guess so..." he said finally, "for Squirt... I guess so."


	6. Chapter 6

Feather prower tried to sleep. He really did. The hour was early, and his lids were heavy, but ultimately he simply couldn't bear it any longer.

The fox's eyes snapped open, blinking several times to clear themselves as he glared at the bottom of the bunk above.

From the top bunk, a great snore rattled long and loud, and Feather finally decided that enough was enough. He simply wasn't going to sleep any longer, and so he released a frustrated sigh and swung his legs out of his bed.

The fair-furred fox retrieved his purple gown from a nearby chair and slipped in, his ears perking as his bunkmate snorted and muttered with the motion.

"Whu'z'ap'nnin?!?" Blitz Prower, half in and out of his covers and on his stomach while he hugged his pillow, raised his head and cast a dumfounded look around the small room, eyes barely open and ears askew. "Feav?! Whu'ya doin', you'wok me up..."

"Oh well, I do apologise..." Feather replied haughtily, fastening his gown around his slender form, "did I interrupt your little snoring session?"

Blitz grinned, eyelids still partially closed at different altitudes. "Sorry princess..." he said, stifling a yawn, "Did I rouse her highness from her royal slumber?"

Feather choked back a laugh and instead grabbed a cushion to throw at his twin. Blitz deftly caught the cushion in one hand and wore a lopsided grin.

"You sound like a jumbo jet taking off..." Feather said, crossing his arms and glaring mock-sternly, "with something caught in the turbines..."

Blitz set the cushion behind his head and rolled onto his back, arms and legs splaying in different directions. "You have my sincerest apologies, your worshipfulness..."

Feather sighed and cocked his head, long head-fur trailing over his shoulders. Blitz didn't know it, but the effeminate fox couldn't help but feel validated by his sibling's comments. Feather allowed himself a small smile and cleared his throat, lightening his tone.

"I'm making breakfast..." the fox said, hugging his gown around him, "what do you want?"

"Zzoszagjeszz..."

Feather shook his head and turned to leave. "I'm going to assume sausages..."

"Thnkzzz..."

The robed fox left the room and entered the hall, the pads of his bare feet softly patting the floor. He reached a door furnished with a crude drawing of an aeroplane and gently lowered the handle, slowly creaking the door open.

He stuck his head through the crack and perked his ears, noting the small and unmoving lump bundled beneath the cloud-patterned covers. Feather smiled as he heard the light breathing of his smallest brother, Squirt Prower safely dreaming in his bed, surrounded by his toys and posters of aircraft and machines.

Feather felt a wave of maternal affection for the small fox, a warm smile softening his face.

"I..." the slender fox hesitated. Feather wondered if... the emotions running through Feather's heart were correct, if the words caught in Feather's throat should be uttered.

"I..." Feather whispered, swallowing their nerves and sadly looking over the sleeping bundle, "I love you, baby..."

The bundle didn't respond, Squirt Prower happily lodged in his dreams.

Feather sighed sadly, blue eyes looking over their brother with care, before they retreated and closed the door with a light click.

Feather wandered down the hall, a sudden fixation in their brain. They stopped dead in the hall, playing with their hands as they dared to internalise a sudden thought.

_I want to be a mom._

Feather suddenly felt light headed, raking a swift diversion into the bathroom and locking the door. The fox gripped both sides of the sink with shaking hands, a feeling of shame sitting deep in their chest.

_Why did I think that? What's wrong with me?_

The fox forced their eyes up to glare at their reflection in the mirror, cursing themself for their slip.

And promptly spun around with a gasp, as they saw somebody else in there, another pair of blue eyes peering just over their shoulder.

Feather found nobody else in the bathroom. None of the other foxes had followed them in there.

Feather swallowed, mouth suddenly dry, and turned to look back in the mirror. No eyes this time, though they couldn't help but feel a presence in there with them... the sensation of a very familiar person right there by Feather's side.

"Tails?" Feather whispered, scanning the bathroom in the mirror, "is that you?"

Feather didn't receive a direct reply from the fractured intelligence... though felt the response in their heart.

_When are you going to tell them?_

Feather gripped the sink and sighed, searching in their own reflection for any sign of the fox they all had once been. "What if they hate me?" Feather said, as though talking to themself, "what if they think I'm a freak?"

 _They're your brothers..._ the response felt clearer this time, and Feather couldn't help but feel as though the presence shift, as though moving around the bathroom around the fox, _why would they hate you?_

"I don't know..." Feather said lightly, closing their eyes and releasing a dejected sigh, "I guess I'm just scared..."

There was no response this time. Feather opened their eyes and scanned the bathroom mirror, finding that the presence - Tails - had gone. It seemed his brief period of autonomy, such as it was, had come and gone.

"I'm so scared..." Feather whispered, hugging their gown around themself and shivering as their padded toes scrunched over the cold tiles, "I... don't know if I can do it..."

The fox took a final sad look at their own reflection, before turning tails and leaving the bathroom. It was time to make breakfast.

...

"Feather!!!"

Feather turned and grinned as a short orange figure tore into the kitchen and launched from the floor, the taller fox easily catching the smaller in their arms.

"Hey kiddo!" Feather said, hefting Squirt into a more comfortable grip, "you come to help with the breakfast?"

Squirt looked hungrily over the pans filled with sausages, the straps of his usual leather flight helmet dangling and swaying with them motion of his head. "Yeah! Can I test the sausages?"

Feather chuckled and set the smaller fox down on the kitchen floor. "They're not cooked yet, kiddo! Why don't you go make some bread and butter? We can have sausage sandwiches!"

Squirt grinned and scampered toward the fridge, reaching up on tiptoes to retrieve the butter and bread.

"Move it, short stuff."

Feather turned their attention from the sizzling sausages to find a very haggard-looking Blade reaching over Squirt's head and grabbing a soda from the top shelf. Squirt pouted and shoved Blade in the ribs. "Dun't call me short stuff, edgy boy!"

Blade scuffed Squirt's head, skewing the helmet and causing the smaller fox o squeak with irritation.

Feather set their hands on hips as Blade retrieved a bag of chips from an overhead cupboard. "You're up early."

Blade shrugged. "I haven't been to bed yet."

Feather watched disapprovingly as Blade tore open his chips. "Not joining us for breakfast?"

"This is my breakfast."

"No, Blade. Chips aren't breakfast." Feather said, reaching over and grabbing the bag from their moody brother's hands. "You're having a proper breakfast and that's final."

Blade folded his arms and scowled. "Says who?"

"Says your si... bling," Feather responded, just about saving themselves from saying something they'd regret. They set the chips down and pointed to the kitchen table. "Now sit your butt down and wait!"

Blade rolled his eyes and fell into one of the chairs. "Whatever you say, princess..."

Feather smiled as they returned their attention back to the pans filled with sausages. Once again, the slender fox couldn't help but feel validated.

"Man!" a far more chipper voice than Blade's sounded from behind, Feather casting a look over their shoulder to find Blitz entering the kitchen, head fur spiked up in his usual manner. "Something smells good!"

"Blitz!" Squirt piped up, holding up a plate of messily-prepared bread and butter, "I helped Feath with the breakfast!"

"Awesome, little dude!" Blitz replied with a thumbs-up, "Yo Feath! You training the squirt to be a chef?"

Feather chuckled. "Chef Squirt. I like it." They took the pan and scraped the contents onto a plate, the now perfectly cooked sausages sizzling in a pile as Feather turned with the plate in hand. "Now somebody go and get Doc. I swear that boy would forget to eat if we didn't remind him..."

...

The five siblings had gathered around the kitchen table, a bleary-eyed Doc Prower having joined the other foxes for his breakfast. As Feather had predicted, Doc had declined to eat since breakfast the preceding day, and Feather had to almost force him to sit down and eat.

"Man..." Blitz leaned back and patted his belly, grinning at Feather. "That was some real good grub, bro!"

Feather smiled in return, though the smile didn't quite reach their eyes. The fair-furred fox reached out and began gathering the empty plates. "Well I'm glad you boys enjoyed it..." they said lightly, taking the plates to the sink and running the tap, "somebody has to take care of you guys..."

"Yes, it was quite filling..." Doc said, raising his goggles and rubbing his bloodshot eyes, "thank you, Feather."

"Feather's the best cook in the world!" Squirt said, the little fox's face smeared with ketchup, "even better than Amy!"

"Don't let Amy hear you say that!" Blitz chuckled, "I don't think she'd be happy knowing she has a little competition!"

"Yeah..." Blade snorted, a mischievious smirk warping his face, "Feath-head sure knows how to handle a sausage or two..."

The foxes jumped with a start as Feather harshly deposited the plates on the counter, the purple-gowned fox now hunched over the sink with ears drooped.

"Uh, Feath?" Blitz said carefully, "you okay there buddy?"

Feather slowly turned around, arms folding over their chest as they glared at Blade. "What..." the ordinarily gentle-mannered fox hissed through grit teeth, "do you mean by that, Blade?"

Blade shrugged. "Come on dude," he grunted, "we all know what you're like."

"Blade..." Blitz said sternly, glaring at his brother, "drop it..."

"No Blitz, let him speak..." Feather snapped, raising a hand to silence the spiky-haired fox, "what do you mean, Blade? What am I like?"

"You want me to fuckin' spell it out?" Blade said defensively, suddenyly appearing less sure of himself under his sibling's scrutiny, "we all know you're gay, dude. And nobody gives a shit."

"Blade!" Blitz snapped, "leave him alone!"

"I'm not gay..."

"What?" Blade said increculously, "everybody's thinkin' it, I'm jus' sayin' it!"

"He is correct however..." Doc added, "I have more important matters to worry about than Feather's sexual orientation."

"What's sexall or... oruntention?" Squirt piped up, looking confusedly around his brothers.

"I'm not gay."

"Guys, just leave it okay?" Blitz said, trying to bring some order to his brothers, "if Feath's gay, then that's up to him to come to us! We don't just out somebody like that-"

"I'm NOT. GAY!!!!"

The foxes fell silent, turning to find their sibling glaring with fists clenched, tails whipping like angry snakes.

Feather glowered at their brothers with angry eyes, before finally settling their venomous look on Blade. "I'm not GAY, Blade!" they said with contempt, voice shaking as they swallowed their nerves, "I'm... I'm a girl."

Feather's brothers cast awkward glances to one another, sudden realisation settling in their chests.

"Ah..." Blitz said, "right..."

"So there you go, boys..." Feather said, tears suddenly forming in her eyes, "now you know..."

Blitz scraped back his chair and rose to meet his sibling, the purple-gowned fox fiddling with her hands in shame. "Feath..." Blitz said gently, "you wanna talk about this?"

"No..." Feather turned away, recoiling from her brother. "Just... just leave me alone..."

With that, Feather positively ran from the kitchen, smacking a hand over increasingly tearful eyes.

The four brothers remained in awkward silence, Blitz directing an exasperated gesture to Blade. "Congratulations, Blade..." he said irritably, "congratu-fucking-lations. You upset her."

"I was jus' sayin' what everybody thought..." Blade muttered, gloomily staring at the table with his arms folded.

"Yeah well..." Blitz replied, hands on hips as he glowered at his brother, "looks like you screwed up, huh?"

"I din't know Feather was a girl..." Squirt said uncertainly, big eyes looking pleadingly up to his bigger brothers.

"Yeah, littl buddy..." Blitz said, reahcing down to ruffle his little brother's head, "neither did we..."

"Well..." Doc said, adjusting his goggles as he stood from the table, "the question now, is what do we do?"

Blitz hummed, looking around at the piles of unwashed plates and pans. "well first we clear this mess... Feath fed us, it's the least we can do..." he turned to Blade and frowned as he thought. "And I think we need to do something special for our sis..."

...

Blade Prower leaned his head back and groaned, his flap of black-dyed hair flopping over his right eye as he stood before the door to Blitz and Feather's room. He raised his hand and prepared to knock, hesitating before his knuckles touched the wood.

He'd fucked up, he knew. Dumbass, running his mouth and upsetting his siblings again... all he was good for, it seemed.

The moody fox glowered, looking down to his black and white sneakers. He wanted to just run away right now, run away and hide from the others... but he knew he couldn't Blade had screwed up, and now he needed to square things with his... sister.

The fox raised his knuckles and rapped the door, before turning the handle and sticking his head through the crack.

"Yo, uh... Feath?" Blade said, scanning the room for his sibling, "y'in here?"

Feather, lying face down on her bed and cuddling her pillow, offered bloodshot eyes to the intruding fox. Blade flinched as he noted the tearstained fur around his siter's face.

"What do you want, Blade..."

Blade shrugged, ears drooping as he forced himself to meet Feather's eyes. "I jus' wanna talk..."

Feather shuffled into a sitting position, still clutching the pillow close to her chest. "Whatever..."

Blade took that as the most welcoming response he was going to receive, and walked over to set himself down beside Feather. He fiddled nervously with his hands, staring through the floor. "M'sorry..." he mumbled, shrugging uselessly.

"Oh..." Feather said dismissivly, "that's okay then... it makes it all better, right?"

Blade looked up to his sister's face, noting as though for the first time how effeminate his sibling was. He wondered how long Feather had been feeling this way, and why none of them had figured it out sooner.

"I dunno..." Blade said hopelessly, knuckling his temples, "I just say stuff sometimes that upsets people... I dunno why I do it... I'm so fuckin' stupid..."

Feather looked to her brother, Blade suddenly appearing vulnerable as he stared gloomily at his feet. "You're not stupid, Blade..." she said calmly, "it's just... this is really hard for me... I've felt this way for as long as we've been split, and... I'm scared you're all gonna hate me for it..." She shrugged. "Maybe it's me who's stupid."

"Dude, come on..." Blade began, a spike of guilt shooting through him at the pronoun. "Sorry..."

"It's okay."

"I mean... come on, Feath..." Blade said, "it's like what Blitz says, yeah? We're all a team right? We're a family. We'd never hate you for somethin' like that..."

Feather chuckled, sniffing back fresh tears. "Thanks Blade," she said, "I'm sorry I snapped at you..."

"I'm sorry I upset you," Blade replied, the generaly moody fox struggling with his words. "I know I'm an asshole sometimes but... I love ya, sis."

"I love you too, bro."

Blade jumped as Feather leaned forward and wrapped him in a hug, but relented as Feather sniffed over his shoulder.

"Anyway..." the black-haired fox coughed, Feather releasing him and sitting back with a hapy gleam in her eyes. "The guys wanted me to come get you... they wanna chat about stuff..."

"Oh..." Feather sighed, looking sadly to the floor, "I suppose we'd better get it over with... can you give me a minute to change?"

"Sure..." Blade shrugged, standing from Feather's bed and making to leave the room. "See you in a minute, sis."

...

Feather Prower smoothed off her denim dungarees, nervously adjusting her garment as she left her room. 

It was done. It was out. Feather was a she. A her. And now she had to talk to her brothers about it.

And despite what Blade had said... she was still terrified. She loved her brothers dearly, and was terrified of their rejection... but she had to face up to it.

 _Please don't let them hate me..._ she thought, ears drooping and tails tucking close to her legs.

 _They won't hate you..._ that little voice came again unbidden, and Feather felt as though a presence took her by the hand and lead her onward.

"I wish I had your confidence, Tails..." she whispered, understanding that Tails had come to her once again, "this is just so scary..."

 _I know, but you're a part of me right?_ the voice said, _and we can do anything if we just believe in ourselves!_

"I guess..." Feather sighed, "thank you Tails... thanks for helping me..."

Feather felt the presence withdraw, and found herself stood before the door to the living room. She didn't know what to expect, but steeled herself to face her brothers... she took a deep breath and reached out, cranking the handle and opening the door.

"SURPRISE!!!!"

Feather jumped in shock, ears flattening against her head as a multitude of voices cried out. All of her brothers, including Sonic, were gathered around the coffee table, a collection of knick-knacks and snacks arranged on the wooden surface. She didn't know how to react, and didn't have much time to think before a fluffy orange cannonball slammed into her midsection.

"Feather!" Squirt cried, beaming up at the taller fox, "the guys said you're a girl now! Does that mean you're my sister???"

"That's right, buddy!" Sonic said, the blue hedgehog moving over to ruffle his little brother's head, "Feather's your big sis now! So you behave for her, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Squirt yipped, grabbing Feather's hand and pulling her into the room. "Feather! Feather! We got you presents!"

Feather's eyes fell on the table, finding a cake surrounded by various girly trinkets. "Is this... for me?"

"Sure is!" Blitz said, the spiky-haired fox wandering over and nudging her on the arm with a wink, "we figured we'd put together a little 'coming out' party for our sis! I made the cake myself!"

"Incorrect," Doc said, adjusting his goggles and clasping his hands behind his back, "Blitz bought the cake from the baker's. We all pitched in to find the gifts."

Feather suddenly felt fresh tears welling in her eyes, as her brothers gathered around her supportively. "I... I don't know what to say..." she said, running her fingers through Squirt's head fur, "Thank you, boys..."

"Hey, what are brothers for?" Blitz replied, wearing the same lopsided grin as Sonic.

"You were always safe with us, sis!" Sonic said, resting his arm around Feather's shoulders.

"Thank you..." Feather whispered, smiling and wiping at her face, "thank you so much, boys..."

"Yeah, I hate to break up this sappy emotional mushy stuff..." Blade spoke up, a large knife held hungrily in his hand, "but are we eatin' this thing or just lookin' at it?"

"Yeah! I wanna eat cake!" Squirt squeaked, racing around the table. 

"Hold on, little buddy!" Sonic chuckled, "Feather gets the first slice, right?"

Squirt drooped disappointedly, fiddling with his tails. "Okay..."

"Come on, sis..." Blitz said, taking his sister by the arm, "let's eat!"

Feather Prower smiled as she allowed her brothers to fuss and fawn over her, for the first time since she had been 'born' feeling... valid. 

And from the sidelines, watching like a ghost, Miles Prower observed his strange family... and wished he could join in himself.


	7. Quintupletmas

Squirt Prower was in dreamland.

The small fox was twitching in his sleep, releasing small squeaks and yips as he lay curled atop his bed in his twin tails, the top of his leather pilot's helmet the only indicator of his head.

From the doorway, grinning affectionately, Blitz and Feather Prower watched the sleeping little fox, filled with love for their smallest sibling.

"I'm gonna wake him up!" Blitz chuckled, making to stride into the room but being held back by a purple-clad arm.

"No!" Feather hissed, shooting her brother a warning glare before turning back to gaze happily at her tiny brother, "I just wanna watch him sleep a little longer..."

Blitz snorted. "I sure hope you don't like watching ME sleep like this!"

Feather rolled her eyes and thumped Blitz lightly on the shoulder. "You're too big and ugly! It's put me off my breakfast! Besides..." Feather leaned her head against the doorframe and sighed contentedly, "he looks so peaceful..."

Blitz chuckled softly to himself, happy to see his sister in such good spirits.

"If we don't wake him..." he said, voice low and conspiratorial, "he won't get his presents! Do YOU wanna deal with the tantrum?"

Feather stuck her tongue out, before her face fell into a lopsided grin not unlike her brother's. "After you, good sir!"

Blitz tipped an imaginary hat. "Why thank you, kind miss!"

The foxes entered the room, Blitz running a hand through his spiked-up head fur before he gently sat down on the bed, reaching out and lightly scratching his little brother. Squirt grumbled as he woke, big blue eyes slowly gumming open as he was prised from the land of Nod.

"Hey there, little buddy!" Blitz said quietly, "you know what day it is?"

Squirt simply stared, one eye half-closed... before his face morphed into an expression of pure joy and he all but pounced at his spiky-headed brother.

"IT'S CHRISTMAS?!?!" the small fox screeched happily, beaming up at Blitz as the larger fox expertly caught him in his arms.

"Sure is, little dude!" Blitz chuckled, scrunching the smol boi into his ample chest floof, "and you know what that means?"

"PRESENTS!!!"

"Absolutely!" Blitz turned and winked at his twin sister, who stood watching the display fondly with her arms folded around her purple-robed form, "yo sis! Catch!"

Feather yelped in alarm as Blitz threw his smaller brother like a rugby ball, Squirt recovering mid-air to fly directly at his big sister like a missile. Feather caught him and the small fox hugged into her tight, beaming up at her with gleaming blue eyes.

"Can we go open my presents, Feather?" Squirt yapped excitedly, "Can I?"

Feather smiled at her little brother warmly, running a hand over his pilot's helmet, "sure we can baby," she said softly, "Sure we can..."

Blitz looked to his sister fondly as she carried their brother from the room, ready for a day of presents and fun. 

...

Squirt yapped excitedly as he tore into another present, unwrapping a box of Butto bricks - a giant model set of a jet fighter, again catering to the six-year-old's love of aircraft.

"WOW!!!" the small fox shrieked, clutching his newest toy happily, "this is SO COOL!!! Who got me this one?!"

From the couch, slouching as usual with a game controller in hand and a santa hat hanging from one ear, Blade Prower raised one hand and grunted. "That were me, that one."

"Blade!" Squirt hopped to his feet and cannonballed into the black-haired fox, Blade wheezing as he was winded, "thanks so much it's so awesome I love you so-"

"Don't mention it!" Blade grumbled, shoving the smaller fox away. Squirt looked at him, a hurt expression in his eyes, before Blade offered him a smirk and nudged his arm. "Love ya', lil' bro."

Squirt beamed happily, hopping from the couch and running back to his pile of presents. Midway across the decorated living room, Doc Prower and Sonic the Hedgehog were almost tripped up as they carried trays of food and drink into the living space.

"HEY!" Doc almost jumped from his pelt, the fox glaring at his younger sibling as he attempted to balance his tray, "do you mind?! I'm trying to bring you your chocolate milk, you little pest!"

"Hey, lighten up bro!" Sonic chuckled, before balancing his tray of festive treats in one hand and shooting a thumb's up at Squirt. "Merry Chrimass, lil' buddy!"

Squirt beamed at Sonic, turning and falling to his knees to open another present.

Sonic and Doc set their respective trays down on the table, and Sonic moved to join Blitz, the two speedsters wearing identical grins as they watched their siblings enjoy their Christmas day.

"The guys are having fun, huh?" Sonic said, nudging Blitz with his elbow before setting hands on hips.

Blitz chortled, watching Feather kneel down to hug Squirt while Doc grumpily set himself beside Blade. "S'what we live for, right? Taking care of our lil' buddies?"

Sonic chuckled as he turned to regard Blitz. "Did I ever tell you..." Sonic said mischievously, "that you remind me so much of myself, Blitz?"

"Well..." Blitz looked uncertainly to the floor before his eyes flickered back to meet Sonic's.... and the hedgehog couldn't help but notice the _different_ character, the now shyer look on the usually cocksure face of Blitz prower, "I guess you did rub off on me, Sonic..."

Sonic's lopsided grin fell, and he leaned forward suspiciously... before his eyes widened in recognition. "... Tails?"

'Blitz' smiled shyly, his usual cockiness and self-assuredness now evaporated into awkward nerves, "yeah... hi, Sonic..."

Sonic needed a moment to process the switch, but recovered smoothly and offered his brother a welcoming grin. "Good to see ya, lil' buddy..."

'Tails' grinned back, fiddling with the tip of one of his namesakes, "Blitz let me take the wheel for a bit..." he explained, "I can't stay long... it's getting harder the longer the guys remain separated... so I just wanted to say hi while I still have the chance..."

Sonic's smile fell, and he regarded his brother with sympathy. "We'll figure it out, buddy..." he said, reaching out and gently resting a hand on Tails' shoulder, "I swear... we'll find a way to bring you back!"

Tails shrugged, before the lopsided grin returned to his face. "In case we don't?" he said, the confident tone slowly returning to his voice, "Merry Christmas, Sonic..."

"Yeah..." Sonic replied, as Tails once again vanished behind the eyes of Blitz Prower, "Merry Christmas, buddy..."


	8. Chapter 8

Doc Prower groaned as his mind woke, pain shooting through his limbs and brain as consciousness slowly returned to him. His eyes gummed open, a sharp pain lancing through his head as harsh lights beamed upon him from above.

He tried to move. Couldn't. He was bound, his limbs held by metallic restraints, and he was sitting upright in a chair. Another seat lay before him, connected to a plethora of machinery and equipment. Power hummed through the machines, ready to begin their unknown function.

"Oh good! You're awake!"

Doc's ears perked and footsteps, betraying a stride longer than that of the average mobian, sounded from behind him. Moments later... the evil, grinning visage of Doctor Ivo Robotnik entered his field of view.

"Doctor," the fox said evenly.

"Yes..." the human grinned, moustache twitching as he leaned forward to observe his prisoner curiously, "And I suppose you are one of the five little canines I have to contend with now?"

Doc raised an eyebrow. "I was unaware you knew of our present condition."

"Oh, I know one or two things about your... curious little predicament!" Robotnik chuckled, eyeing the fox shrewdly, "splitting Chaos energy? Replicating yourself? Very interesting, Miles... may I call you Miles?"

"My chosen name is Doc..." Doc replied, calm and collected voice betraying no emotion, "but I suppose Miles works."

"Doc?!" Robotnik's gin became wider, the human seemingly overjoyed with the revelation, "Doc... what a deliciously perfect designation!"

"Get to the point, Robotnik..." Doc said, offering the human an unamused glare, "what do you want with me?"

"Oh well..." Robotnik placed his hands behind his back and paced across the laboratory floor, "you see, my friend... I have a plan. A very cunning plan, and I required your... assistance to pull it off!"

"If you believe I'm going to help you, you are sorely mistaken."

"Who said I expected you to help me?" Robotnik said, barely able to contain his amused laughter. The human leaned in close to the fox, malicious leer widening even more. "No, my friend... all I require from you is the knowledge in your head... and your body."

Doc's heart skipped a beat, sudden dread filling his chest, "what do you mean, doctor?"

"Oh..." Robotnik chuckled, moving away and settling himself in the other seat across from his captive, "you'll see..." the doctor rested his arms on the rests of the seat and shuffled in place, "you'll see very soon..."

Doc watched as Robotnik tapped at the controls of his machine, the human setting himself back and closing his eyes. The machine began to hum, power surging through its components, electrical sparks snapping and lights flickering as the mad science intensified.

Struggling against his restraints appeared useless, though Doc Prower struggled regardless.

Then... the fox spasmed as though he were in the midst of a seizure, becoming stiff as a board as his body was taken from him, his own consciousness stuffed into the back of his own mind as another intelligence asserted itself like a parasite.

Then, with the whine of decreasing power... it was over.

Doc slumped in his seat, head lolling as sparks snapped in his vision. He coughed, a stream of mucus dribbling from his lips as his breathing slowly fell back into its resting rhythm.

His fingers curled. His ears twitched. His eyes opened and stared through his own shoes.

"What... did you do to me?" is what Doc Prower tried to say.

Instead, his throat cleared of its own accord... and his voice rattled out a string of letters and numbers he didn't recognise. The restraints snapped open, the release codes accepted, and the fox fell from his seat to his hands and knees.

_What did you DO to me?_ Doc thought with mounting horror as he began to suspect what was happening, unable to vocalise the query outwardly.

His body staggered as it climbed to his feet, swaying as it attempted to gain balance, and his eyes focused on the now utterly still and lifeless form of the human doctor Robotnik.

His face split into a malicious leer, and his hand reached out to prod the doctor in his ample belly.

"I would say..." his own voice said, with no input from the fox himself, "that our little experiment was a success... wouldn't you, Doc?"

_What did you do?!_

Doc's hijacked body released an evil little chuckle from his throat, and stumbled as it turned to leave the laboratory. It wandered into a nearby medical station, eventually coming to a stop before a medicine cabinet upon which hung a mirror.

His eyes locked onto their reflection... and Doc Prower recoiled inwardly as the evil leer of doctor Robotnik split his own face.

"What do you think?" Robotnik cackled, his evil intelligence glistening in blue eyes that weren't his, "does orange suit me?"

Robotnik chuckled as he felt the body's previous owner shrink further back into his subconscious, brand new tails whipping like snakes.

"You see, what I've done..." the doctor explained, glaring into his new reflection, "is genius of another level! In this form, I have full access to our..." he paused, before grinning maliciously, "well, YOUR knowledge and memories! The perfect cover for a little espionage, wouldn't you say?"

The fox didn't reply, watching from behind his own eyes as Robotnik leaned close to the mirror, close enough for the glass to steam up with his breath.

"I'm going to end that hedgehog," the doctor hissed, glowering madly into the intelligence suppressed inside his head, "and the rest of those infernal foxes, too! And when I'm done?" he shrugged, furry shoulders rising and falling, "I'll transfer myself back out of this body... and finish you off! Sonic the Hedgehog and his little buddy Tails, out of my hair once and for all... until then?" The mad doctor giggled as he felt the true fox's discomfort. "Cheer up! You might like being an evil genius!"

Doc Prower could only watch, appalled and frightened and powerless to do anything, as his stolen body turned with a malicious cackle.

And Miles Prower watched with him, equally unable to stop the insane doctor who had taken control of his brother.

...

Blitz Prower hummed to himself, hands on hips, as he hung impatiently around the hangar of his and his siblings' workshop, where the Tornado usually rested when not in use. the plane had been gone for hours, Doc having taken her for a flight, and had not yet returned.

"C'mon, Doc..." Blitz muttered, scuffing the concrete floor of the workshop, "where the heck are you?"

"Stop worrying, man..." Blade said, the dark-haired fox fiddling with one of the siblings' various inventions, "you know what the professor's like... I swear he gets his rocks off in that plane..."

"Yeah well," Blitz replied, setting himself on the workbench beside his brother, "some of us actually give a crap about our brothers, blade..."

Blade glowered at the spiky-haired fox. "You sayin' I don't?"

Blitz hesitated, before sighing and running a hand through his spiked-up hair. "Sorry dude... I just get worried, y'know? Especially after the whole thing with Squirt..."

"Yeah, I get it..." Blade offered his brother a rare smirk, "I care about you assholes too. If you can believe that."

Blitz grinned, and the two foxes perked their ears as another pair of orange-furred figures entered the workshop.

"Blitz!" Squirt Prower scurried across the workshop toward Blitz. The small fox was now clad in a red and white t-shirt, the picture of a plane in the middle, and spread his arms for his bigger brother to inspect. "Look at my shirt!"

"That's awesome, little buddy!" Blitz leaned over and ruffled his little brother's head, skewing the leather flight helmet Squirt habitually wore, "your big sis get that for ya?"

"Yes..." Feather Prower joined her brothers at the workbench, folding her arms over her denim dungarees, "and we had Meh' burger, didn't we kiddo?"

"Yeah!" Squirt hugged into Feather's side, "It was fun!"

"Nice!" Blitz chuckled, grinning at his smallest sibling and then looking to Feather. "How bout you, sis? Doing good?"

"I'm fine," Feather smiled warmly, and Blitz noted the slight makeup surrounding her eyes, "We had a nice time!" She cast a look around the hangar, frowning at the empty space where the Tornado usually rested, "Doc not back yet?"

"Nope..." Blitz sighed in frustration, "he's been gone for ages... starting to get a little worried sis, not gonna lie..."

"I'm sure he's fine," Feather said, twirling her lengthy head fur around a finger, "you know what he's like..."

"Hey!" Blade, who had wandered over to the entrance to the hangar, turned and called back to his siblings, "I think I see him!"

The foxes perked their ears and made to join their black-haired brother, investigating the skyline. Indeed, the sound of thrumming engines hummed over the wind, and a small red speck descended from the clouds to bloom into a gleaming biplane. The siblings spread out as the plane landed, allowing the Tornado to taxi into the hangar. The biplane rolled to a stop, her engines whining down and frame ticking as she came to a rest.

"Hey, dude!" Blitz grinned as Doc Prower hopped from the plane, knees bending as he hit the concrete floor, "where the heck did you get to? We were worried about ya buddy!"

Doc Prower looked between his siblings, eyes shielded by the goggles he almost always wore, a strange little smirk twitching the corner of his mouth. "Why worry... Blitz?" the fox said with a curious tone, "I'm perfectly fine, as you can see."

"We still worry about you when you go missing like that..." Feather said, lightly stroking her brother's arm, "you need to call us and let us know you're safe!"

"Your concern has been noted," Doc said, clasping his hands behind his back, "where is Sonic?"

Blitz shrugged. "No idea! Seriously, given how long you've been out you'd probably have a better clue than us!"

"Oh," Doc replied, his weird little smile disappearing.

"Great, so the professor's back safe and sound..." Blade muttered, "can we go eat now? I'm starving."

"Yeah! I wanna eat too!" Squirt piped up, clutching his toy plane close.

Feather chuckled. "You're hungry again?" She ruffled her younger sibling's head affectionately, "where do you put it all?"

Squirt giggled and hugged into his sister's side, Feather's tails wrapping around him protectively.

"Okay guys!" Blitz reached down and lifted Squirt from his feet, the little fox squealing as he was hutched into Blitz's arms, "let's go get the takeout menus before the squirt starves!"

The foxes made to leave the workshop... and Doc Prower watched them leave, a malicious glint in his goggled eyes, before moving to join them.

...

Dinner with the Prower siblings was always a chaotic affair, with five foxes rowdily setting the table, preparing plates, bickering, teasing, and snapping at one another. Bags of takeout littered the table, a flustered Feather Prower doing her best to spoon the food out into even portions while her brothers attempted to pick and nibble at one anothers' dishes.

The effeminate fox, head fur tied back into a long pony-tail, wore an exasperated look as she glared at her brothers. "Seriously boys, can't you wait five bloody minutes?"

Blitz offered his usual lopsided grin in reply, a handful of fries clutched in one hand, "sorry sis! Wastin' away here!"

"I'll waste you away..." Feather chuckled, spooning fried rice into five separate bowls.

"Can we please hurry this up?" Doc muttered, eyeing his siblings from behind his goggles, "I'm starving."

Blade snorted, a pancake roll in hand, "you, professor?" the dark-haired fox smirked as he regarded his goggled brother, "Feath usually has to force you to eat."

Doc folded his arms. "Yes well... I've had a long day."

"What did you get up to, Doc?" Feather chirruped, depositing his plate before him, "you were gone a long time..."

Feather recoiled as Doc began positively shovelling his food into his mouth, teeth gnashing and jaws snapping the grub up greedily. She raised her eyebrows as she sat, casting an incredulous look around at her brothers.

"Jeez, buddy!" Blitz chortled, grinning from ear to ear, "you really are hungry, huh?"

"What the hell you been up to, professor?" Blade added, frowning at Doc's display of gluttony.

The goggled fox paused, a length of chow-mein dangling from his mouth. "Who asked you to be so nosy?" Doc said defensively, glowering at Blade from behind his eyewear.

Blade lowered his head and glared back. "What, you wanna make somethin' of it? Egghead?"

An obvious tension had descended over the siblings, and Blitz raised his hands for calm as Doc's mouth split into a snarl. "Okay guys, jeez! You're supposed to be digging into the grub, not each other!"

Doc switched his attention to Blitz after a moment's hesitation, eyes going unseen as they locked on his brother's.

"I apologise Blitz," the fox said evenly, in his usual matter-of-fact tone, "I don't know what came over me." Doc turned back to face Blade. "Apologies, Blade."

Blade held his gaze for a moment, before a wry smirk pinched his cheek. "Sure thing, professor."

"Doc?" a smaller voice piped up, Squirt looking to his bigger brother with excited eyes. The small fox fiddle with a toy plane, before spreading his arms to display his new shirt for Doc to inspect. "Do you like my t-shirt? Feather bought it me!"

The goggled fox stared at his smaller sibling for some moments, before a grin split his muzzle. "That's... very cool!" the fox replied, "very cool."

The others shared another glance at Doc's sudden mood swing. The goggled fox looked back to his siblings, before gathering up his plate and shoving away from the table.

"I'm going to eat in my workshop," Doc said lightly, pausing in the doorframe to cast a final look over his shoulder. "If Sonic calls... let me know."

With that the fox left, leaving his siblings to cast incredulous glances at one another.

"Is it me..." Blitz said, gesturing with a piece of half-eaten piece of sesame prawn toast, "or is Doc acting a little funny?"

"He's a freakin' weirdo..." Blade muttered, spooning rice into his mouth, "Yo fe'h, 'is's g'ug ea'in!"

...

Feather hummed to herself as she carried two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, making her way through the house toward the workshop. She paused, setting the mugs down on a table to peer into a wall-mounted mirror, checking her hair. Her head fur now extended below the shoulders, reaching for the elbows, and a thin black line surrounded her eyes. She smiled, feeling more 'herself' now with each passing day.

A shriek came from the living room down the hall, and the effeminate fox turned to call back.

"Squirt! Blade! No fighting!"

"I got it, sis!" Blitz replied as he emerged from the bathroom, shooting her a wink before jogging down the hall back to where his brothers were busy competing in some video game or another. Feather sighed, retrieving her mugs and continuing on her mission.

"Hey, Doc!" she called as she entered the workshop, rounding the gleaming red hull of the Tornado to find her objective sat before his computer station, hunched over the console, "drinks!"

Doc Prower snapped around and shot his sister a glare as she approached. Feather stopped in her tracks - Doc's eyes were presently exposed, his goggles resting on the desk beside him, and she couldn't help but feel... unnerved, by the ice cold glimmer in the glowering blue orbs.

"I've..." Feather said quietly, raising a much in each hand, "brought you coffee?"

Doc stared for a moment longer, before his face settled into a welcoming grin. "Great! Thanks, Feather!"

Feather returned the smile, a wave of relief washing over her, and she approached her brother to hand his mug over. The fox took the mug, black nose twitching as he took a sniff of the contents.

"Ahh..." he breathed heavily, "just what the Doc ordered!"

Feather chuckled, clutching her own mug in both hands, "was that a joke, Mister Serious?"

Doc shrugged. "Believe it or not, but I'm not that much of a stick in the mud, brother!"

Feather tensed, pursing her lips and coughing lightly. "Sister..."

Doc appeared to think for a moment, before clearing his throat. "I'm sorry," he said dismissively, "sister."

Feather couldn't help but feel a chill at that cold, emotionless response. Doc was never the most outgoing of her brothers, but this was different. Doc was usually perfectly blunt and straight to the point, uninterested in diplomacy or theatrics. This felt as though he were putting on an act, his face nothing but a mask disguising his true feelings.

"Are... you sure you're okay, hun?" Feather said softly, concern tinging her voice, "you seem a little... off it, since you got back..."

Again, Doc set his cold eyes on hers, and Feather felt a cold chill run up her spine. "I'm fine, sister..." the other fox smiled, the expression not reaching his ice-cold eyes, "has Sonic returned yet? I'd like to see him."

Feather swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. "No, Doc..." she replied, beginning to move away, his eyes slowly following her as she clutched her coffee defensively, "we don't know where he is..."

Doc held her gaze a moment longer, before shrugging. "A shame. Let me know when he returns. Will you do that?" his smile morphed a fraction, appearing almost like a hungry sneer, "sis?"

Feather nodded. "Of course, Doc..."

With that, Feather Prower turned and left the workshop, Doc's eyes following her as she hurried away.

Doc released an irritated sigh, now grimacing after the effeminate fox with bared teeth.

_Be patient,_ he thought to himself, _wait until the blue hedgehog's back... and then get them all at once._

_It won't work, Robotnik..._ another voice, felt more than heard, seemed to say. The doctor perked his ears and scanned the workshop, before chuckling to himself.

"we'll just see about that, won't we?" he muttered to his fragment of the intelligence the foxes had once shared, "Miles?"

There was no other response, the sudden presence retreating back into his subconscious, replaced by the tortured mind of Doc Prower who could only watch from behind his own eyes, powerless as Robotnik turned back to the console to continue his research. He tapped at the keyboard, bringing up the work he'd been doing before Feather had interrupted.

"Chaos Division..." he mumbled to himself, twin tails flicking like snakes, "fascinating..."

The fox grabbed his goggles and set them back over his eyes, pushing away from his workstation and walking through the workshop, safety boots stomping over the concrete. He came to a stop, hands set on hips, and wore a malicious grin and he observed the machine the siblings had used to unwittingly split themselves in the first place, the strange cylindrical device presently sat silent in the corner of the workshop, a glowing Chaos Emerald inside.

"Fascinating indeed..." Robotnik chuckled, as he approached the machine to inspect it.

...

"Hey, no fair!"

"What're you talkin' about, that was perfectly fair!"

"You cheated!"

"Nah, you just need to get good!"

Blade Prower cackled as, beside him, Squirt Prower dropped his controller and punched his bigger brother in the arm, a look of outraged on his fuzzy face,

"You did too cheat!" the small fox squeaked, the straps to his leather flight helmet swinging with his angry swipes, "you did!"

Blade smirked, easily fending off the smaller fox's blows. "Did not! Get good, scrub!"

"Dun't call me a scrub!"

"I'll call you what I like, y'little goober!"

"Dun't call me a goober either!"

Squirt pounced forward, claws outstretched, and squealed as he was caught in a headlock by his larger brother. Blade cackled maliciously as the small fox struggled, removing Squirt's helmet and scruffing his head fur.

"Agh! Give up! Give up!"

"What's the magic word, little man?" Blade grinned, holding his little brother easily.

"Lemme go!"

"What's the magic word?"

"PLEASE!"

Blade let the small fox go, Squirt tumbling onto his butt as he launched back into the sofa. He glared daggers at his bigger brother, who maintained the angry expression.

Blade stuck his tongue out.

And Squirt snorted, before collapsing into a fit of giggles.

"That made you laugh, eh?" Blade grinned, pointed canines jutting from his top lip.

"You still cheated!" Squirt said defensively, glowering at Blade as he curled into his twin tails.

Blade lowered his brow and wore a dark smile. "Maybe I'm just better'n you!"

"Are not!"

"Whatever..." Blade stood from the couch and stretched, tails arching as his spine cracked. He gestured to the tv. "I'm going for a piss. Set up another race short-stuff, maybe I'll let you win the next one..."

Squirt yipped happily and grabbed his discarded controller, flicking through the menus of their game while Blade went to do his business.

The dark haired fox adjusted his black fingerless gloves, ready to remove the handwear in preparation for his visit to the lavatory... and paused.

"Shut up... just shut up!"

His ears perked. He scowled. A familiar voice, what appeared to be Doc's, muffled through the bathroom door.

"You have no business telling ME what to do!"

Blade, ears still raised and tails flicking, slowly moved toward the door and listened intently.

"Your head? YOUR head? No, my friend... this is MY head now..."

"Hey, professor!" Blade raised a fist and banged on the door, eliciting a squeak of alarm from inside the bathroom, "the hell you doing in there?"

A moment of silence was his response, then the sound of bootsteps, the clicking of the lock, and then the creak of the door as it swung open.

Blade's eyes met Docs', the other fox's goggles resting on his forehead... and Blade fought the urge to recoil. The look in Doc's eyes was... unnerving. Malicious. The black-haired fox felt his innards squirm at the short lived malice that glimmered in his brother's eyes, before Doc's usual stoic expression returned.

"Oh, I apologise brother..." Doc said, utterly calm and professional as always, "do you need the bathroom?"

"Yeah..." Blade muttered, looking Doc over with suspicious eyes, "the hell were you doing, dude? You talkin' to somebody?"

Doc blinked, the cogs whirring in his head, before replying with a curt nod.

"Just a little visit from... well, you know who..."

"Huh..." Blade grunted, "let me guess... Tails?"

Doc nodded again. Strange, isn't it? These brief periods where his fragments visit us? Like talking to a ghost."

"I don't recall anybody arguing with the guy, though..." Blade said, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, well..." Doc replied, utterly cold and emotionless, "I believe he is becoming... distressed. After all... we have been fractured for quite a while, right?"

"Right..." Blade responded, unconvinced by his brother's explanation. His own fragment didn't interfere often, but still... he'd never felt the presence... distressed, as Doc had put it. Not enough to begin verbally arguing with it, at any rate. And nor had any of the others mentioned this. Was it possible that Doc was attempting to cover something up?"

As if in reply, Doc offered his moody brother a smirk. "Don't worry about it brother... everything is fine. Now..." he nodded, gesturing past Blade. "may I pass? I must return to my work..."

Blade stepped aside, briefly locking eyes with the goggled fox... and again felt his fur stick up on the back of his neck as their souls seemed to connect. One moment he had felt a malicious presence in Doc's eyes... and now his brother almost seemed to be... pleading with him.

Doc reached up and lowered his goggles, cutting off the eye contact. "Well then..." he said, clasping his hands behind his back and wearing that strange little smirk, "I'll see you later... brother!"

"Yeah..." Blade watched Doc as he turned and walked away, whistling a tune Blade had never heard in his life, "see you..."


	9. Chapter 9

The Prower workshop/household was presently silent. All around the small homestead, gleaming white in the steadily rising winter sun, fresh snowfall lay across the land like a white blanket. All was silent, the scene almost like that from a christmas card, all occupants in the household sleeping at this time. 

That didn't last long. Audible even from outside, though there was nobody there to hear it, a high pitched keening squeal emanated from inside the building, muffled through the walls.

"IT'S BEEN SNOWING!!!" Squirt Prower hauled tail through the house, screeching at the top of his lungs and scurrying between each room in a spurt of hyperactivity, "IT'S BEEN SNOWING!!!!"

Feather Prower groggily sat herself up in bed as her smaller brother burst into her room, leaping onto the end of her bed and staring with big, excited eyes.

"Huh?" she rubbed at her eyes and suppressed a yawn, leaning up on one elbow to regard her sibling, "what's that, kiddo?"

"It's been snowing!" Squirt cried, hopping on the bed and pumping his fists on the underside on the top bunk, "wake up, Blitz! Wake up!"

A series of unintelligible snorts and grumbles came from above, Blitz Prower torn from his slumber by his little brother's hysterics. Squirt tumbled from the bed, rolling in mid air to land on his feet, and grabbed Feather's unoccupied hand. 

"Come on, Feath! Come on! I wanna play in't snow!"

Feather chuckled as she allowed herself to be pulled from her bed, wrapping her purple gown around herself as she climb to her feet. "Ok kiddo... but remember," she offered him a stern finger, the smaller fox cocking his head quizzically, "bundle up! Okay?"

Squirt beamed happily before hugging his sister, and tearing back off into the hall, on a mission to wake the rest of his siblings.

"Whu..." Behind Feather, an extremely ruffle orange and white face peered from the top bunk, one eye still closed and fur sticking out at amazing angles, "whu'z ha'nnin'?"

Feather rolled her eyes and grinned, before making to get herself dressed.

...

The Prowers were soon roused, Blitz and Feather preparing a hot breakfast while Squirt played outside. Feather wore a smile as she peeked out the window, watching her beloved little sibling pounce into the snow. "The kiddo's having fun..." she said happily, setting plates onto the counter-top.

"Uh-huh..." Blitz, clad in a 'kiss the cook' apron and busy frying bacon, turned and nudged his sister on the arm. "Hey, go on! Sit down! My turn to make breakfast!"

Feather leaned against the counter and pouted, folding her arms over her dungarees. "I want to help!"

"You help enough!" Blitz smirked, "go on, take it easy. Chef Blitz'll handle this!"

Feather chuckled and did as she was told, grabbing her coffee and settling at the table. As she did so, a very groggy and messy-furred Blade wandered into the kitchen, heavy bags beneath his eyes.

"Oh hi, Mister Edgy!" Blitz offered his brother a glance, wearing his lopsided grin, "sleep on the sofa again?"

Blade grunted, resting his head in one hand as he set himself down. "Too right... think I'm kipping with the professor? I swear, the guy's acting weird..."

Feather hummed. "We noticed..." she said, raising her coffee to her mouth with both hands.

"Relax..." Blitz said, turning and shovelling fried bacon and eggs onto his siblings' plates, "the guy's just in a mood... happens to all of us!" he smirked and winked as he spun around with plates in hand, "even a handsome and charming individual such as myself!"

"Maybe we should Sync?" Feather suggested, "we haven't done for a few days..."

Blitz shrugged, his grin fading. "Yeah... I guess that's one habit we've let slide..."

"Yeah, well..." Blade grumbled, nibbling at a piece of bacon, "if it were up to me, we'd never do that again... I hate Syncing! S'like I'm not myself any more..."

"Well a little more research, and one day we won't have to!" Blitz replied, before heading over to the window. He opened it and stuck his head out, allowing freezing cold air inside. "Squirt!" he cried, spiked head fur ruffling in the breeze, "breakfast!"

"Jeez, shut that window will ya?" Blade snarled, "it's blowing a gale!"

Blitz cackled, grinning mischievously at his moody brother, "I'll blow _you!_ "

"Gross, dude!"

...

Squirt raced inside at the mention of food, his winter clothes dripping wet with melting snow as he entered the heated interior of the homestead. He scurried excitedly through the house, beaming with joy. The little fox, the pure embodiment of a child's joy, had been playing in the snow all morning, pouncing beneath the white blanket, rolling giant snowballs, trying to get his siblings out for a snowball fight... as of yet they hadn't, though Feather and Blitz had promised they would join him as soon as he had some breakfast.

The fox cub's tummy grumbled as he scampered through the house, black nose twitching at the anticipation of food... and he promptly smacked face first into a taller orange figure, on his own way to retrieve his breakfast.

"What in the NAME OF-"

Squirt yipped in alarm and pounced away, crouching to the floor beneath the glare of an alarmed, and angry, Doc Prower.

Squirt opened his mouth to apologise... but the words wouldn't come out. He cowered beneath Doc's scrutiny, a look of pure outrage burning in the fox's face.

"You little-" Doc snarled as he dabbed at his side where Squirt had ran into him, the fur their wet with melted snow, "you..." Squirt's fur stood on end beneath his coat as Doc stepped toward him, a murderous look in the larger fox's eyes, tails swishing like angry snakes. "You..."

"I'm sorry Doc!" squirt yelped, curling into his tails and shooting his brother big, frightened eyes, "I din't mean ter run into yer an' get yer wet, I promise!! Please don' 'urt me!!!"

Doc paused in his approach, sudden realisation falling over his face... before he cleared his throat and straightened, hands falling to rest behind his back, all trace of his anger evaporating instantly. "I... apologise, brother..." he said politely, "you... simply startled me, is all..." the larger fox's face twitched into a painful smirk. "Did I scare you?"

Squirt, eyes beaming timidly, nodded his head. "Yeah..." he squeaked, still frightened of his bigger brother's outburst, "I'm sorry Doc, I din't mean to bump into yer I swear..."

"What's going on out there?" Blitz's voice called from the kitchen before Doc could reply, "you wrecking the joint or somethin'?"

"Squirt's just on his way for something to eat..." Doc called back, his eyes not leaving Squirt's, "we just had a little bump, is all..."

"Oh..." Blitz responded after a moment's hesitation, "well come on, guys! Food's getting cold!"

Doc continued to stare at Squirt, that weird little smirk still on his face. "I'll... make something to eat later, brother..." he replied, "I have work to do..." Doc raised his hand and gave Squirt a little salute. "Well, see you later, lil' bro!" he said, before turning and walking toward his usual spot in the worshop.

Squirt Prower watched his bigger brother leave, unable to shake the feeling of terror the look in Doc's eyes had seeded within him.

...

_Please... please stop... please stop..._

Robotnik scowled as he tapped away at his datapad, interrupted in his work with the Chaos Splitter by the remaining presence of the real Doc Prower. The fox was still in the back of Robotnik's mind, and while it pleased the doctor to know that Doc was suffering... it would not do to have the blasted canine bothering him while he worked. 

The distraction had already cost Robotnik several slip-ups.

The doctor bared his teeth, his tails swishing angrily as he glared into the reflective tank of the spitter, within which hung suspended the Chaos Emerald Tails had been experimenting on before his accident. From the glass, his own eyes glared back... the blue eyes of Doc Prower, behind which the fox himself could only watch in horror as Robotnik possessed his body like a malicious spirit.

"Oh, don't worry..." he chuckled quietly, relishing Doc's torment, "it will all be over eventually... just as soon as I finish off that hedgehog and your other fragments..."

_Please..._

Robotnik's leer became a grimace. "Listen you..." he hissed, the ends of his white muzzle twitching with the flesh beneath, "it should be quite clear that this body is no longer under your control... must you tire me with your endless whining?"

There was no response this time, Doc having faded back into his own subconsciousness.

Robotnik smirked. "That's better," he muttered. "The quicker I can complete my task, the quicker this can be over for BOTH of us! Do you think I intend to spend any more time than necessary in th-"

_"Ivo..."_

Robotnik spun around, ears pinned as he swore he heard a voice from behind. His eyes scanned the workshop, searching for sign of any intruder. He didn't need to be discovered arguing with the fox in his head, not again.

Nobody. He licked his lips.

"Yes..." he murmured, feeling around thoughtlessly to tap at the Chaos Splitter's console, "the sooner this is over, the b-"

_"IVO!"_

Ivo dropped the datapad with a clatter, heart racing, now utterly certain a familiar voice had just spoken to him. Not Blade, not Blitz, not Squirt or Feather, but-

"Tails?!" he snarled into the workshop, ears perked and tails swishing, "I know you're in here!" Ivo's stolen eyes darted all around, searching for the presence that was Doc's fragment of Miles Prower "show yourself, or I swear on my planet I'll kill-"

"Doc?!"

Ivo squeaked in utter terror, reaching into his satchel and wrapping his hand around the device inside... and hesitating when he found all four of the other Prower fragments gaping at him, concerned expressions on each fuzzy face.

...

"Doc?" Blitz raised his hands, signalling for calm as he regarded his brother with concern, "what's going on?"

Doc breathed heavily, fur sticking out on end, his eyes swivelling in their sockets as he looked between his brothers. He was clearly distressed, and clutching something in his satchel... and Blitz didn't want to escalate the situation if he could help it.

Doc appeared to swallow his nerves, blinking rapidly and making a visible attempt to calm himself down. "No... nothing's the matter, brother..." he said breathlessly, attempting to relax his stance, "I am fine. Everything is fine, I'm all okay now. How are you?"

"Doc..." Feather spoke up, her arms wrapped around Squirt who hugged into his sister defensively, "we know something's wrong..."

"Your weird behaviour, your mood swings..." Blitz counted off, "snapping at Squirt... and now this!"

"Told you..." Blade muttered, staring darkly at Doc, "he ain't right..."

"What do you know, edgy boy?!" Doc snapped, eyes glaring madly as spittle flew from his mouth, "what're you all saying?!" Doc began to desperately glance between each of his siblings, chuckling nervously, "Doc's gone crazy? Is that it? Well, for your information..." he glared at Blade, who looked ready to pounce him himself, "I've perfectly FINE, _Blaze!_ "

There was a moment of silence, Blitz raising his hand to steady a growling Blade. "Doc..." the spiky haired fox said quietly, "who the hell is Blaze?"

Doc simply stared, the cogs spinning in his head... before he swore and reached into his satchel with a flash.

Before any of the others could reach him, he held a humming energy pistol, pointing directly at his siblings, holding them in place.

"NONE OF YOU MOVE!!!" Doc snarled, his pistol held steady and staying their feet, "I presume you would all LIKE to keep your blood inside your bodies???"

"Doc!" Blitz cried, again signalling his siblings for calm, "what the hell, man?"

"That's not Doc..." Blade growled, teeth baring as he glared at 'Doc'.

"What?!" Feather shrieked, Holding Squirt tight and preparing herself to cover his body if need be, "what do you mean, Blade?!"

"Oh, clever foxy!" Doc cackled, retrieving a small device from a belt pocket and activating it with a chirrup, "very clever foxy! You think you've figured it out, eh? Well, go on _Blade!_ Do tell!"

Blitz frowned as Doc speech and body language shifted completely, now nothing like the stoic and logical scientific mind he usually was, and now appearing more like...

"No..." Blitz muttered, the penny beginning to drop, "it can't be..."

"It is..." Blade snarled, having figured it out for himself, "it has to be... Rob-"

"Ro.... Robotnik..."

The siblings' ears perked and they watched, confused, as 'Doc' quivered, suddenly staring into space. The pistol remained pointed at them however, and they dared not move as Doc began to spasm, his eyes twitching.

"Ro... botnik..." Doc slurred, shuffling backward toward the Chaos Splitter. His eyes flicked between each of his siblings, and the weapon shivered in his hand. "Has... control..."

"Doc?" Blitz locked eyes with his possessed brother, trying to bore into his soul, "is that you?"

The corner of Doc's mouth twitched. "Not... quite... Blitz..."

Blade nudged Blitz' arm and grunted. "Tails..."

Blitz swallowed, his mouth and throat dry from nerves. "Tails?" he raised his hands pleadingly, "if that's you... help us out buddy, okay?"

Robotnik/Doc/Tails growled as the doctor attempted to regain control, a string of mucus hanging from their shared mouth, "hard... the doctor... is strong... I'm weak..."

Blade snarled as he was again held back by Blitz, fixated on the hijacked fox like a boodthirsty hound.

"Blade! Chill!! He still has the gun..." Blitz licked his lips as Blade held back, daring to take a step toward his brother. "Tails... what can we do?" he said, now slowly approaching Doc, "how do we get Robotnik out of there?"

'Tails' did his best to grin, reaching behind with a hand toward the Chaos Splitter's console, "already... been working on it..."

The siblings looked behind Tails to the now powering up splitter, understanding what he intended to do.

"Calculations... entered..." Tails hissed in pain, as he wrestled with the invading presence of Doctor Robotnik, "better... find some cover guys!"

Blitz and his siblings watched as Tails, with the last of his control, threw the pistol across the workshop in an uncoordinated toss, lunging clumsily around to the splitter's console. The possessed fox released a, agonised screech as he pounded at the computer station, and the machine began to power up.

"Everybody!" Blitz cried, turning and gesturing frantically to his siblings, "get down! NOW!!!"

_FWASH_

...

"Blitz? Blitz! Blitz wake up!"

Blitz groaned as he came to, ears still ringing from the blast. He blinked hard, clearing the stars from his eyes, finding Squirt clutching his ample chest fur and shaking him as hard as his little arms would allow.

"Blitz!"

Feather, coughing from the drifting smoke filling the workshop, knelt beside her brother and shook his shoulder, "are you alright?!"

"I'm fine..." Blitz hacked, shaking his head as he sat up, fully re-entering protective big brother mode, "head count! Where are we all?"

"I'm here..." replied a sullen voice, Blade just visible through the smoke as he stumbled to his feet. "Doc! You there, asshole?!"

Blitz heaved himself to his own feet with Feather's help, wafting away the smoke as he helped search for their fifth sibling.

"G... guys..." 

There. A pained, frightened voice, quietly coming from ground level. Blitz and Blade dashed over to retrieve their brethren, hauling the limp orange figure from the ground and to his feet.

"Doc?" Blitz inspected the fox closely, Doc's eyes bulging and bloodshot as they scanned around, "you back with us, buddy?"

Doc's eyes locked onto Blitz's, almost looking through him... before the fox nodded rapidly, visibly swallowing his nerves.

"I..." Doc replied in a small voice, looking as though he'd been through Hell, "I think... so..."

Blade shoved Blitz aside and glared into Doc's eyes, gripping his jaw and swivelling his head for a closer look. "Anything left of egg-face in there?" he growled, glowering suspiciously at his brother.

Doc shook his head. "I... think he's gone..." he said, voice quivering as he blinked rapidly, "Tails, he... whatever he did, he... separated us..."

"Oh jeez..." Feather whispered, clutching Squirt tight and perking her ears, "then what happened to-"

"You... bastards..."

Each of the siblings froze as a sixth voice, high-pitched like Squirt's yet filled with venom, sounded from beyond the thinning smoke. They looked, finding a dark shape become clearer... short, stocky, brown-furred, in possession of a single tail and presently flattened triangular ears. This new fox, clenching their fists and breathing heavily, spent some moments with their back turned to the siblings... before doctor Ivo Robotnik, split from his host yet retaining a facsimile of the fox he had controlled, spun around with an expression of pure outrage and canines bared. "You..." Robotnik hissed, shrill voice cracking as he angrily scanned between the other foxes, "BASTARDS!!!"

Blitz couldn't help the malicious grin that spread across his face. "Well..." he said, setting his hands on his hips, "looking good there doc... feeling okay?"

Squirt frowned, looking up to Feather in confusion. "Is that egg-head?" he said uncertainly, straps to his flight helmet dangling over his shoulders.

"I think so..." Feather replied, fighting to suppress her own grin.

Robotnik snarled, jabbing a clawed finger at the siblings, "you think you've won?!" he shrieked, single tail lashing as he paced sideways across the workshop, "you think this is it?! Clever foxies, _clever_ little foxies!!!" His bared teeth became a sneer, the presently mobanised human scowling maliciously at his enemies, "but just you wait! Just you WAIT until I get back into my body! I'll stomp you all! Stomp you FLAT!!!"

"Take a look around, dipshit..." Blade said with a vicious grin, slowly approaching the now smaller Robotnik and spreading his arms to gesture around the workshop, "you're all alone, there's five of us..." he approached the doctor menacingly, Robotnik now cowering slightly now he was shorter than the true mobian.

"And considering your present number of appendages..." Doc Prower spoke up, glowering with resentment at the doctor, "you can't fly..."

"Yeah!" Squirt hopped from Feather's grip and pointed triumphantly at Robotnik, "you've 'ad it, _buttnik!"_

Blitz snorted at the impromptu nickname, and the hopeless look on Robotnik's new face. "Face it, doc..." he raised his hands in a shrug, lopsided grin settling on his muzzle, "you ain't going anywhere!"

At that Robotnik's ears perked as a low rumble came from outside the workshop, and the brown fox grinned. "Oh... I don't know about that..."

Before Blitz or his siblings could respond, the closed hangar doors exploded inward in a flash of flame and smoke. For the second time in mere minutes, the siblings dove to the ground to escape the sudden blast, as a pair of Badniks boosted through the door, settling themselves down in the middle of the workshop.

Robotnik raised the small device he had activated before the split, before his control had been wrestled from him by Tails, and barked orders at the robots, orders that went unheard by the Prowers as they scrambled for cover.

Robotnik's machines appeared to understand, and the doctor hauled himself into the clutch of one of the mechanical minions. "Well, congratulations guys!" he cackled, clinging tight to his chosen machine, "but as always, I'm one step ahead! You really thought I wouldn't have an escape planned?" The small fuzzy doctor offered a cheery salute from his mount. "Anyway, I have to go now! But I'll be back! Back to my old self, back to business... and back to destroy you all!" the brown fox winked. "Ta-ta!"

With that, the Badniks retreated before the siblings could recover and fight back, screaming across the trees outside and into the winter's day.

Blitz grimaced as he and his siblings watched the doctor vanish from sight.

"Doc!" he called, turning and gesturing to his revived brother, "get the Tornado running! See if we can't track him!"

"Blitz?" Feather replied, kneeling beside a slumped Doc, "he isn't in any condition to work right now!"

"And neither is the Tornado..." Squirt piped up, standing next to the aircraft in question, the plane now sporting several black holes in its engine, "we can't go after Buttnik!"

Blitz' shoulders slumped, the fox understanding that there was no way they were finishing this particular fight on their terms tonight. His ears perked as a hand rested on his shoulder, and he turned to find Blade stood beside him, jaw set with determination.

"We'll get the bastard..." Blade grunted, glaring out of the shattered hangar doors, "we'll find him and bring him down..."

Blitz sighed dejectedly. "Sure..." he replied, wearing an unconvincing grin, "sure we will..."

...

"Put me down... I said PUT ME DOWN, YOU IMBECILE!!!"

Doctor Ivo Robotnik squeaked in alarm as his rescue Badnik did as it was asked, releasing its grip and depositing him on the deck of his Egg Carrier. The ship, hidden above the clouds, now served as his primary base of operations. This was where he had taken Doc Prower after capturing him and his Tornado, where he had transferred into the fox's body like a parasite... and where his human body remained, mindless and waiting for his return.

The doctor brushed himself off as he returned to his feet, finding his fur ruffled and windswept from the flight to the carrier. He glowered at his brown arms. He had fought to regain control of his stolen body, but Tails... with the distractions already weighing on Robotnik's mind from dealing with Doc, the original fox had slipped in, and now here he was - split from his host, cut out like a cancer and remoulded into... this.

"Not for long..." he muttered, wincing a his shrill, child-like voice, "it's been fun and all, but I suppose it's time to return to form!"

Minutes later, the doctor was settling himself into the transference device, looking across to the other chair where his human body remained idle, kept alive via artificial life support He chuckled merrily to himself. "I suppose this has been an interesting little experiment," he said, ungloved fingers dancing over the from his perspective now much larger control panel, "but what can I say?" Ivo smirked, a pointed canine jutting from his top lip, "I'm only human..."

Ivo tapped in the final ignition sequence, and leaned back in his seat as the machine powered up. The whine of advanced machinery and the crackle of mad science surrounded him, and he felt his fur bristle with the static, keeping his eyes closed as he prepared for the disorienting sensation of instantaneously switching bodies.

The machine began o wind down, its function complete. The lab fell silent.

Ivo breathed deeply, tingling with sensation, and slowly opened his eyes.

He found himself frowning in confusion, as he was met with the still lifeless form of his human body... still sat before his eyes. With him decidedly not back in it.

"What the..." the doctor muttered, regarding his still brown furred body, legs kicking from the tall chair, "what the devil?!" he tapped furiously at his console feeling the blood draining from his skin. "This can't be... this can't be!!! I can't be stuck like this! I can't!! WHY isn't this WORKING?!?"

"Well, gee egg-head..." Ivo yelped and jumped in his seat, ears pinning as a familiar voice echoed clearly throughout the chamber, "looks like you really screwed up, huh?"

Ivo's frightened eyes locked on an orange and white figure, calmly manifesting before his chair as though made of a light fog. He leaned back in his seat as, wearing a mischievous grin, Miles Prower himself - or the fragment of himself that had taken control from Robotnik - dissolved into being between Ivo and his human body.

"Tails..." Ivo hissed, glaring in outrage at the ghost. "What... have you DONE to me?!"

Tails shrugged. "Nothing really... all I did was get you _out_ of my friend..." the non-corporeal fox's eyes flickered over Ivo's present form. "And whatever spat you out like that... made you incompatible, I guess, with this thing..."

"FIX ME!!" Ivo jabbed an outraged finger at his visitor, eyes bulging apoplectically, "FIX ME! OR I'LL... I'll..."

"What? Kill me?" Tails said condescendingly, "you can't kill what isn't alive, _Ivo..._ can you? Either way, doc... I guess, just like me... you found out that screwing with your own Chaos Energy isn't a great idea... maybe you'll figure it out, maybe you wont, but for now?" 'Tails' offered a smirk and a salute as he began to fade from existence once again, returning to the nothing state he resided these days, "welcome to the club, _brother!_ "

Ivo Robotnik swore loudly as the fox vanished completely, perhaps for good, before slumping in his oversized seat, and pounding his new furry brown fists into the machine's console.


End file.
